impotence

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Man's inability to love God supremely results from his intense self-will and self-love; and therefore his impotence is a part and element of his sin, and not an excuse for it If weakness may excuse What murderer, what traitor, parricide Incestuous, sacrilegious, may not plead it All wickedness is weakness.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun The quality or condition of being impotent.
  2. noun See erectile dysfunction.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (45)

  • If there are any Republicans thinking about anything other than finding ways to blame someone other than themselves for their present position of relative political impotence, they might remember that just over a year ago the Bush administration announced a year-long (though low-key) effort to make progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace before the Bushlet left office. —  Antiwar.com Original
  • "The specter of male impotence is at the heart of the matter, as are stories of wobbly men and take-charge women." —  GreenCine Daily
  • Incontinence and impotence are the evil twins of prostate cancer and its aftermath. —  NYT > Home Page
  • The most common causes of impotence are arteriosclerosis and diabetes. —  BeanRocket Blog Communities Lastest Posts
  • Turn on the television at any hour and you're likely to be invited to join in a very frank conversation about impotence, as celebrities from Rush Limbaugh and Bob Dole to Jay Leno and Mike Ditka have for a decade been leading America in an orgy of public confessions, pharmaceutical testimonials, and late-night jokes. —  The Chicago Blog
 

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English impotence, from Old French (also F.) impotence = Provencal inpotencia = Spanish Portuguese impotencia = Italian impotenzia, impotenza, from Latin impotentia, inpotentia, powerlessness, inability, ungovernableness, from impoten(t-)s, inpoten(t-)s, powerless, impotent: see impotent.
 

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/ˈɪmpətəns/
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