Meanings
plural impuissances
- uncountableusuallyImpotence, weakness.
[A]ll which things, bring perill to thoſe that know not how to uſe them well; and neither honour and credit, nor puiſſance, but rather argue their feebleneſse and impuiſſance.
1603, Plutarch, “Of the Fortune or Vertue of King Alexander. The Second Oration.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 12751 more example
This fault, for a man not to be able to know himselfe betimes, and not to feele the impuissance and extreme alteration, that age doth naturally bring,[…]hath lost the reputation of the most part of the greatest men in the world.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
nounpowerlessness revealed by an inability to act
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchimpuissance
- Middle Frenchimpuissance
- Englishimpuissance
Borrowed from Middle French impuissance.
More words from Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
impuissance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impuissance
“impuissance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impuissance. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “impuissance,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impuissance.
Source: impuissance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.