无能为力

• 拼音: wú néng wéi lì
• 汉字拆解: 无 = negation; 能 = capability; 为 = 爪 + 象 (a hand guiding an elephant — to act, to do); 力 = muscular arm (strength, force)

含义

Completely powerless to act; beyond one's capacity to help or change. Expresses total inability to intervene, assist, or alter a situation, regardless of will or effort.

Stronger and more absolute than 无力. Implies that all available means have been exhausted or that the situation is structurally beyond reach. Common in medical, legal, governmental, and personal contexts: 医学上无能为力 (medically beyond help), 法律上无能为力 (legally powerless), 对此无能为力 (powerless in this matter). Often followed by a reorientation toward what can still be done.

例句

1. 由于法律框架的限制，监管部门对这类跨境欺诈行为在很多时候无能为力。
2. 面对这场全球性经济衰退，许多中小经济体的货币当局几乎无能为力。
3. 她深知自己无能为力，却仍坚持陪伴在病榻旁，给予力所能及的心理支持。

用法指南

语境: law, medicine, government, personal reflection

语气: negative

正确说法

• 在现行法律框架下，地方政府对中央直属机构的行政决定无能为力，即便认定其有损地方利益，也只能通过正式渠道向上级反映，而无法直接干预。(Under the current legal framework, local governments are powerless to act against administrative decisions made by central directly-administered institutions; even if they consider such decisions harmful to local interests, they can only convey their views through formal channels to higher authorities and cannot intervene directly.)
• 医疗团队最终不得不如实告知家属：患者的病情已进入终末期，医学上已无能为力，下一步应将重点转向舒缓治疗，以减轻其生理痛苦为首要目标。(The medical team ultimately had no choice but to inform the family honestly: the patient's condition had entered the terminal stage and medicine was powerless to act; the next step should be to shift focus to palliative care, with alleviating physical suffering as the primary objective.)

错误说法

• 无能为力 when there are still feasible options remaining — it denotes complete exhaustion of all viable means; if partial capacity remains use 力不从心 (capacity falls short of the aspiration) or 难以为力 (difficult to act upon)

起源与历史

无能 (without ability) + 为力 (to apply strength/to act with force) — without any ability to bring force to bear on the situation

文化背景

世代: All ages

社会背景: Universal