No. 14,588 in German
machtlos
Powerless.
In a sentence
Ich fühlte mich machtlos gegen die Naturgewalten.
I felt powerless against the forces of nature.
Here, 'machtlos' conveys a helplessness in facing something out of one's control, emphasizing lack of influence.
Die Gemeinschaft war machtlos, die Entscheidung zu ändern.
The community was powerless to change the decision.
In this sentence, 'machtlos' highlights a lack of collective authority or means to influence a situation.
Er sah das Unrecht, blieb jedoch machtlos, etwas zu unternehmen.
He saw the injustice but remained powerless to act.
Here, 'machtlos' expresses an individual's incapacity or constraint due to circumstances or limitations.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “machtlos” in actual German podcasts.
Find “machtlos” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays German podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into Deutsch, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
German books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).