helpless
243
2.0
- adjective
- /ˈhɛlpləs/
:
indefenso
- Well... while I was lying there, absolutely helpless, afraid to move...
- feel helpless
- helpless people
- a helpless child
It's just the I feel helpless in trying to help my mum.
- It's just the I feel helpless in trying to help my mum.
- The former Witch Queen looked at them, helpless and terrified.
- Anyone would feel helpless under those circumstances.
- And I feel absolutely helpless in this state of downness.
- They want all of Americans to feel helpless and hopeless.
- Chernow called him a helpless casualty of his own fame.
- But for all of our listeners out there that feel helpless and hopeless, stop.
- Because you feel so helpless about how things just spiralled.
- When you're feeling most helpless on this road, get the most helpful.
- But it's the sense that I'm not helpless in this world.
- Because if I let go, I'll be a helpless child again.
- So like going on this proper spending spree while you're helpless to stop it.
- I feel so helpless because I can't do these things that he's doing.
- So we are kind of helpless not to love it.
Examples
-
Realization began to sink in of how entirely helpless and without real hope he was.
Fiction book (1990) -
Anyone would feel helpless under those circumstances.
-
Anyone would feel helpless under those circumstances.
-
We worry a lot about world problems and feel helpless to do anything about them.
Academic text (1992) -
The former Witch Queen looked at them, helpless and terrified.
-
Patients and the lay public are almost helpless in determining whether a doctor is competent.
Academic text (1994) -
And I feel absolutely helpless in this state of downness.
-
But for all of our listeners out there that feel helpless and hopeless, stop.
-
Thus, the compounding of race with age leads to a particularly helpless situation for these young plaintiffs.
Academic text (2017) -
She felt utterly helpless when she couldn't find her way home in the dark.
Synonyms
809
1.0
Not having the skill, strength or things needed to do something
162
3.4
Not able to do or experience something
138
3.6
Unable to do or stop something because you have no control
77
3.5
Without protection and easy to hurt
25
6.8
Unable to act or change a situation
1
4.2
Not able to do anything, often because of injury or fear
1
7.0
Not able to make decisions or influence things
Unable to move or act normally after illness such as an injury
Not strong and without power to act or change things
Antonyms
How Able
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Helpless is made of help and the ending -less, which means 'without'. So, if you are helpless you are 'without help' and cannot act or protect yourself.