Powerless

Examples

• All this time, as if a spell were on him, he was motionless and powerless, except to watch her. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
• The masses of furze and heath to the right and left were dark as ever; a mere half-moon was powerless to silver such sable features as theirs. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
• Whether he will or not, the seer is powerless to predict: on that subject there has been no open vision. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• In this particular, his influence upon her was equally powerless with mine. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• With a last faint effort, which would have been powerless but for my yielding to it and assisting it, he raised my hand to his lips. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
• He stood for a moment and looked at her, powerless and torn with pity, as a parent regards an infant in pain. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
• Her hand lay powerless and trembling in mine. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
• She was as if crushed, powerless in him. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
• Her father sat below, powerless in humiliation and chagrin. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
• She felt she was powerless, and receded; and again she trembled. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• No: she would not be left: powerless to detain me, she rose and followed, close as my shadow. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
• While wishing this, I suddenly felt colder where before I was cold, and more powerless where before I was weak. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
• The Court sits tremulous, powerless: varies with the varying temper of the Esplanade, with the varying colour of the rumours from Paris. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• Her hand hung powerless; each joint lay bare, so that the light penetrated through and through. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
• She was powerless to contribute either to our good or our comfort in any one thing which did not suit my father's humour. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
• They were powerless as a rotten bulrush to protect me--impotent as idiot babblings to restrain him! Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• He rushed wildly forward, and clenched the old man by the throat--but he was his father; and his arm fell powerless by his side. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
• She dragged her tottering limbs from the bed to visit her son once more, but her strength failed her, and she sank powerless on the ground. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
• The holy visitant has for a time slept, perhaps to show me how powerless I am without its inspiration. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
• In a strange and new sense, I grew most selfish, and quite powerless to deny myself the delight of indulging his mood, and being pliant to his will. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
• In the first case, my lady was powerless to help us. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
• And he was on his guard, she was powerless. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
• In agony the man watched, fearful to launch his spear, powerless to fly. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
• The individual is nominally free, but he is also powerless in a world bound hand and foot in the chains of economic necessity. Plato. The Republic.
• Fine weather, pleasant days, pleasant scenes, are powerless to give me pleasure, continued Caroline. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• So situated, she was powerless to check Jo, who seemed possessed by a spirit of mischief, and talked away as volubly as the lady. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
• Our poor Emmy, who had never hated, never sneered all her life, was powerless in the hands of her remorseless little enemy. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
• When flour and water alone are kneaded and baked in loaves, the result is a mass so compact and hard that human teeth are almost powerless to crush and chew it. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
• I was tormented by the contrast between my idea and my handiwork: in each case I had imagined something which I was quite powerless to realise. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
• Powerless to recover their lost treasure by open force, the three guardian priests followed and watched it in disguise. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.

Edited by Joanne