powerless
pow·er·less/ˈpaʊɚləs/adjective
powerless is spelled P-O-W-E-R-L-E-S-S: 9 letters and 3 syllables (pow·er·less). It appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, powerless means “Lacking sufficient power or strength” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in powerless?
| Letters | 9: P-O-W-E-R-L-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: pow·er·less |
| In writing | 3.1 times per million words; the 15,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is powerless?
Powerless appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce powerless?
- US /ˈpaʊɚləs/
- UK /ˈpaʊələs/
Powerless has 3 syllables, split pow·er·less in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-powerless.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of powerless
- more powerless comparative
- most powerless superlative
- powerlesse
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does powerless mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Lacking sufficient power or strength.
- 2
Lacking legal authority.
The traffic warden was powerless to stop me driving away.
- 3
Without electricity or electrical power.
During the storm, the entire neighborhood was left powerless for several hours
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Powerless in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | impuissant |
| German | kraftlos , machtlos |
| Portuguese | impotente |
| Spanish | sin poder / poderío / potencia , sin poder / poderío / potestad |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does powerless come from?
From Middle English pouerles, powerles, equivalent to power + -less.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).