Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use powerless in a sentence

25 example sentences · adjective

Powerless means lacking sufficient power or strength. Example: “The traffic warden was powerless to stop me driving away.”

Examples of powerless by meaning

adjectiveLacking sufficient power or strength.

  • It is said that his right arm had grown powerless from having been raised so often over the heads of those whom he baptized.1914, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
  • One thing is clear: after the first accident had occurred, the enginemen on the down express were powerless to avoid the second collision.1952 December, “The Harrow Accident”, in Railway Magazine, page 789
  • But he was powerless to stop what was about to happen.2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

adjectiveLacking legal authority.

  • The traffic warden was powerless to stop me driving away.

adjectiveWithout electricity or electrical power.

  • During the storm, the entire neighborhood was left powerless for several hours

More sentences with powerless

  • Aging is a condition over which we are powerless.From the entry condition
  • Even in my most stringent noncarb dieting phase I was weakened and powerless in their presence.2004, Jennifer Basye Sander, The Martini Diet: The Self-Indulgent Way to a Thinner, More Fabulous You!, page 116. From the entry noncarb
  • Advocacy means influencing Policy in favour of the poor and powerless.2003, Joel S. G. R. Bhose, NGOs and Rural Development: Theory and Practice, page viii. From the entry misfavour
  • Powerless to help, I had to watch both him and my horse drown.1998, J. Frank Dobie, John D. Young, A Vaquero of the Brush Country, page 120. From the entry ducking coat
  • Within an ideal context of pure witcraft, the powerful and the powerless meet upon equal terms.1996, Michael Billig, Arguing and thinking: a rhetorical approach to social psychology. From the entry witcraft
  • A bouncy, Betty Boop-ish-type woman, she is a hard-working but powerless representative for the consumer.1972, Robert F. Buckhorn, Nader: The People’s Lawyer, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., →ISBN, page 228. From the entry Betty Boop-ish
  • Desperate to help his friend, but feeling powerless.2015, Hawk Moth, “The Bubbler”, in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, episode 1. From the entry evilize
  • The insurrectionary spirit still had great value, but by neglecting modest means of struggle one ended up being powerless.2012, D. Turcato, Making Sense of Anarchism: Errico Malatesta’s Experiments with Revolution, 1889-1900. From the entry legalitarian
  • Civilizational elites infantilize nonelites to keep them powerless.2000, David Kowalewski, Deep Power: The Political Ecology of Wilderness and Civilization, →ISBN, page 21. From the entry babify
  • But he's powerless and so has no choice.2000, Drew Leder, The Soul Knows No Bars: Inmates Reflect on Life, Death, and Hope, page 115. From the entry fuck-boy
  • He also points out that if the US does come under cyberattack, we may be powerless to stop the attack.1996 July 1, Stephen Pizzo, “Information Superhighway Under Assault”, in Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. From the entry cyberattack
  • Meanwhile, womanhating as a recourse of the powerless is sapping strength from black communities, and our very lives.1984, Audre Lorde, “I Am Your Sister”, in Let Nobody Turn Us Around, page 520. From the entry womanhating
  • This proposition is fatal to this appeal, and renders this court jurisdictionless and powerless to proceed to review the cause.1916, {unattributed}, The Pacific Reporter - Volume 157 - Page 328. From the entry jurisdictionless
  • Both feel like reminders that the real divide, so starkly present at this Pharaonic sporting super-show, is between the powerful and the powerless.2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian. From the entry pharaonic
  • She’s continually the wanter in a relationship but dreams of being the one wanted, which is to say she’s continually powerless, dreaming of power.2016 August 26, Spencer Kornhaber, “Britney Spears Finds Grace in the Hook-Up on 'Glory'”, in The Atlantic. From the entry wanter
  • In such cases, even the licence conferred by strict speaking is powerless to 'undetermine' the statement—to make any and every context seem admissible.2014, Rupert Crawshay-Williams, Methods and Criteria of Reasoning, page 148. From the entry undetermine
  • From necessity, the powerless use micromanipulation, while the powerful engage in macromanipulation, the process of influence at the societal or social policy level.2009, Mary Uhl-Bien, Raj Pillai, Michelle C. Bligh, Follower-Centered Perspectives on Leadership, page 15. From the entry micromanipulation
  • Thanatechnology helps survivor(s) gain a sense of control in an experience that feels powerless (Moyer and Enck 89) and mitigates the potential of “second loss” (Bassett).2022, Alyson R. Buckman, Juliette C. Kitchens, Katherine A. Troyer, Slaying Is Hell: Essays on Trauma and Memory in the Whedonverse…. From the entry thanatechnology
  • Little Boss put a stop to the funkadelics of Maurice's new radio, but he was powerless to prevent his whistling as he walked about at a smart clip.1992, Darryl Pinckney, High Cotton, page 232. From the entry funkadelics
  • Few legislators dare run for office on a platform proposing a solution; they know they would be powerless to accomplish anything if elected; someone else would misenforce the law.1935, The Commonwealth - Volumes 11-12, page 152. From the entry misenforce

Meaning of powerless

  1. adjective Lacking sufficient power or strength.
  2. adjective Lacking legal authority.
  3. adjective Without electricity or electrical power.

Full definition of powerless

Questions about powerless in a sentence

How do you use powerless in a sentence?
Powerless is used as an adjective. For example: “The traffic warden was powerless to stop me driving away.”
What is a short sentence with powerless?
“But he's powerless and so has no choice.”
What does powerless mean?
Powerless means lacking sufficient power or strength.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: powerless (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use powerless in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/powerless. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.