Powerlessness is the state of not being able to stop or change something, because you do not have the strength, the money, the position, or the legal right to do it. People use it a lot for a feeling: you watch something bad happen, and there is nothing in your hands. A child can feel it when adults decide everything; a worker can feel it when the company is too big to argue with; a patient can feel it in a hospital corridor. Though actually, it is not only a mood. If the law says you may not vote, or a storm is stronger than any person on the street, that is powerlessness as a hard fact, not just a sad thought. The word is a little formal. In everyday talk someone might just say "I can't do anything" or "there's nothing I can do." Teachers, news writers, and people talking about politics, illness, or disaster use it more than kitchen chat does.