Skip to content
Vinony

impotent

adjective

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L5765 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈɪm.pə.tənt/ / /ˈɪm.pə.tɪnt/

adj

Etymology: From Old French impotent, from Latin impotēns, from in- (expresses negation) + potēns (“powerful”).

  1. Lacking physical strength or vigor; weak
  2. Lacking in power, as to act effectively; helpless

    “Technology without morality is barbarous; morality without technology is impotent”

  3. Incapable of sexual intercourse, often because of an inability to achieve or sustain an erection, having impotentia coeundi.

    “A person smeared with the excrement of a mouse was rendered impotent, according to Pliny the Elder.”

  4. Sterile
  5. Lacking self-restraint

    “Then, impotent of tongue (her ſilence broke) / Thus turbulent in rattling tone ſhe ſpoke.”

noun

Etymology: From Old French impotent, from Latin impotēns, from in- (expresses negation) + potēns (“powerful”).

  1. A man who has erectile dysfunction
  2. An impotent or powerless person