Noun | 1. | impotency - the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble quality - an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone; "the quality of mercy is not strained"--Shakespeare helplessness, impuissance, weakness - powerlessness revealed by an inability to act; "in spite of their weakness the group remains active" unpersuasiveness - inability to persuade uninterestingness - inability to capture or hold one's interest voicelessness - having no voice in the management or control of affairs; "the voicelessness of those who live in situations of hopelessness" paper tiger - the nature of a person or organization that appears powerful but is actually powerless and ineffectual; "he reminded Mao that the paper tiger had nuclear teeth" |
2. | impotency - an inability (usually of the male animal) to copulate ED, erectile dysfunction, male erecticle dysfunction - impotence resulting from a man's inability to have or maintain an erection of his penis 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 |