impotence

Roget category 158

1. Words expressing abstract relations
› 1.8. Causation
›› 1.8.2. Connection between cause and effect

#158. Impotence

noun

impotence — inability, disability — disablement, impuissance, imbecility — incapacity, incapability — inaptitude, ineptitude, incompetence, unproductivity^† — indocility^† — invalidity, disqualification — inefficiency, wastefulness.
telum imbelle [Lat.], brutum fulmen [Lat.], blank, blank cartridge, flash in the pan, vox et proeterea nihil [Lat.], dead letter, bit of waste paper, dummy — paper tiger — Quaker gun.
inefficacy etc. (inutility) 645^† — failure etc. 732.
helplessness etc. adj. — prostration, paralysis, palsy, apoplexy, syncope, sideration^†, deliquium [Lat.], collapse, exhaustion, softening of the brain, inanition — emasculation, orchiotomy [Med.], orchotomy [Med.].
cripple, old woman, muff, powder puff, creampuff, pussycat, wimp, mollycoddle — eunuch.

verb

be impotent etc. adj. — not have a leg to stand on.
vouloir rompre l'anguille au genou [Fr.], vouloir prendre la lune avec les dents [Fr.].
collapse, faint, swoon, fall into a swoon, drop — go by the board, go by the wayside — go up in smoke, end in smoke etc. (fail) 732.
render powerless etc. adj. — deprive of power — disable, disenable^† — disarm, incapacitate, disqualify, unfit, invalidate, deaden, cramp, tie the hands — double up, prostrate, paralyze, muzzle, cripple, becripple^†, maim, lame, hamstring, draw the teeth of — throttle, strangle, garrotte, garrote — ratten^†, silence, sprain, clip the wings of, put hors de combat [Fr.], spike the guns — take the wind out of one's sails, scotch the snake, put a spoke in one's wheel — break the neck, break the back — unhinge, unfit — put out of gear.
unman, unnerve, enervate — emasculate, castrate, geld, alter, neuter, sterilize, fix.
shatter, exhaust, weaken etc. 160.

adjective

powerless, impotent, unable, incapable, incompetent — inefficient, ineffective — inept — unfit, unfitted — unqualified, disqualified — unendowed — inapt, unapt — crippled, disabled etc. v. — armless^†.
harmless, unarmed, weaponless, defenseless, sine ictu [Lat.], unfortified, indefensible, vincible, pregnable, untenable.
paralytic, paralyzed — palsied, imbecile — nerveless, sinewless^†, marrowless^†, pithless^†, lustless^† — emasculate, disjointed — out of joint, out of gear — unnerved, unhinged — water-logged, on one's beam ends, rudderless — laid on one's back — done up, dead beat, exhausted, shattered, demoralized — graveled etc. (in difficulty) 704 — helpless, unfriended^†, fatherless — without a leg to stand on, hors de combat [Fr.], laid on the shelf.
null and void, nugatory, inoperative, good for nothing — ineffectual etc. (failing) 732 — inadequate etc. 640 — inefficacious etc. (useless) 645.

phrase

der kranke Mann [G.] — desirous still but impotent to rise" [Shenstone]; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

The content on this page comes straight from Project Gutenberg Etext of Roget's Thesaurus No. Two, which consists of the acclaimed work by Peter Mark Roget augmented with more recent material. Some changes were made to the formatting for improved readability.

Bold numbers signify related Roget categories. A dagger symbol (†) indicates archaic words and expressions no longer in common use.

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