powerless C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈpaʊɚləs/ UK /ˈpaʊələs/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj without the ability, influence, or strength to act or change things They felt powerless to stop the rising floodwaters. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · without the ability,... helplessimpotentweakincapablefeebleineffectual ↔ Opposites powerfulmightypotentcapable Word family Forms powerlessness Derived forms powerlesslypowerlessness Related forms powerpowerful Etymology AI details From power + -less. Power derives from Old French poeir ('to be able'), from Vulgar Latin potere, from Latin posse ('to be able'). poeir Old French posse Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # powerless **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈpaʊɚləs/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈpaʊələs/ ## Meanings 1. without the ability, influence, or strength to act or change things ## Examples - They felt powerless to stop the rising floodwaters. ## Synonyms - helpless - impotent - weak - incapable - feeble - ineffectual ## Antonyms - powerful - mighty - potent - capable ## Derived Forms - powerlessly - powerlessness ## Related Forms - power - powerful ## Roots and Affixes - Root: poeir - Root: posse ## Etymology From power + -less. Power derives from Old French poeir ('to be able'), from Vulgar Latin potere, from Latin posse ('to be able'). ## AI Etymology Powerless is from power + -less. Power derives from Old French poeir ('to be able'), from Vulgar Latin potere, from Latin posse ('to be able'). Important recorded forms include poeir (Old French) and posse (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers without the ability, influence, or strength to act or change things. The wider family includes derived forms such as powerlessly and powerlessness and related words such as power and powerful. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown