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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



14 words match “IMPOTENT”

IMPOTENT a. 4 definitions
in capacity; destitute of force; weak; feeble; infirm. There sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent inhis feet. Acts xiv. 8. O most lame and impotent conclusion! Shak. Not slow to hear, Nor impotent to save. Addison.
IMPOTENTLY adv.
In an impotent manner.
ENERVATE v.
To deprive of nerve, force, strength, or courage; to render feeble or impotent; to make effeminate; to impair the moral powers of. A man . . . enervated by licentiousness. Macaulay. And rhyme began t' enervate poetry. Dryden.
FRIGID a.
Wanting natural heat or vigor sufficient to excite the generative power; impotent. Johnson. Frigid zone, that part of the earth which lies between either polar circle and its pole. It extends 23Arctic.
IMBECILE a.
Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; esp., mentally wea; feeble-minded; as, hospitals for the imbecile and insane.
IMPOTENCE; IMPOTENCY n.
The quality or condition of being impotent; want of strength or power, animal, intellectual, or moral; weakness; feebleness; inability; imbecility. Some were poor by impotency of nature; as young fatherless children, old decrepit persons, idiots, and cripples. Hayward. O, impotence of mind in body strong! Milton.…
IMPUISSANT a.
Weak; impotent; feeble.
INEFFICACIOUS a.
us; not having power to produce the effect desired; inadequate; incompetent; inefficient; impotent. Boyle. The authority of Parliament must become inefficacious . . . to restrain the growth of disorders. Burke.
LAME a.
e, hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect. "A lame endeavor." Barrow. O, most lame and impotent conclusion! Shak. Lame duck (stock Exchange), a person who can not fulfill his contracts. [Cant]
POWERLESS a.
Destitute of power, force, or energy; weak; impotent; not able to produce any effect. -- Pow"er*less*ly, adv. -- Pow"er*less*ness, n.
SLUGGISH a.
Having no power to move one's self or itself; inert. Matter, being impotent, sluggish, and inactive, hath no power to stir or move itself. Woodward. And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect. Longfellow.
SPADO n.
An impotent person.
UNABLE a.
Not able; not having sufficient strength, means, knowledge, skill, or the like; impotent' weak; helpless; incapable; -- now usually followed by an infinitive or an adverbial phrase; as, unable for work; unable to bear fatigue. Sapless age and weak unable limbs. Shak.
UNGENITURED a.
Destitute of genitals; impotent. [R.] Shak.