IMPOTENCY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does impotency mean? 

• IMPOTENCY (noun)
  The noun IMPOTENCY has 2 senses:

1. the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble

2. an inability (usually of the male animal) to copulate

  Familiarity information: IMPOTENCY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPOTENCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

impotence; impotency; powerlessness

Hypernyms ("impotency" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impotency"):

helplessness; impuissance; weakness (powerlessness revealed by an inability to act)

unpersuasiveness (inability to persuade)

uninterestingness (inability to capture or hold one's interest)

voicelessness (having no voice in the management or control of affairs)

paper tiger (the nature of a person or organization that appears powerful but is actually powerless and ineffectual)

ineffectiveness; ineffectuality; ineffectualness (lacking the power to be effective)

Derivation:

impotent (lacking power or ability)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An inability (usually of the male animal) to copulate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

impotence; impotency

Hypernyms ("impotency" is a kind of...):

infertility; sterility (the state of being unable to produce offspring; in a woman it is an inability to conceive; in a man it is an inability to impregnate)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impotency"):

ED; erectile dysfunction; male erecticle dysfunction (impotence resulting from a man's inability to have or maintain an erection of his penis)

Antonym:

potency (the state of being potent; a male's capacity to have sexual intercourse)

Derivation:

impotent ((of a male) unable to copulate)