helpless

[ help-lis ]

/ ˈhɛlp lɪs /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR helpless ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

unable to help oneself; weak or dependent: a helpless invalid.

deprived of strength or power; powerless; incapacitated: They were helpless with laughter.

affording no help.

Origin of helpless

Middle English word dating back to 1125–75; see origin at help, -less

OTHER WORDS FROM helpless

help·less·ly, adverb help·less·ness, noun

Words nearby helpless

helper virus, helpful, helping, helping hand, helping verb, helpless, helpline, helpmann, helpmate, helpmeet, helprin

Example sentences from the Web for helplessly

It is very difficult to sit by helplessly while a friend is imprisoned for a crime that is too implausible to comprehend.

Behind Bars for the Holidays: 11 Political Prisoners We Want to See Free In 2015 |Movements.Org |December 25, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Rather than helplessly obeying the dictates of management, workers are obliged to do what union bosses tell them.

A Crazy California Union Scandal |James Poulos |August 2, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
She is helplessly oblivious to what is going on between Iago and Othello.

Shakespeare’s Movie Magic |Marina Watts, Malcolm Jones |April 24, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
When it came to paying it back, he was helplessly and horribly bedridden.

Former Navy Officer Bryan Caisse Is Accused of Defrauding Friends and Classmates |Michael Daly |January 22, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Her novels are not, as some insist on thinking, the helplessly romantic effusions of a repressed spinster.

Jane Austen’s Tough Love |Rachel M. Brownstein |June 23, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
Pete said helplessly to old man Greiffenhagen: "Take me outer this!"

Bunch Grass |Horace Annesley Vachell
Evelyn looked about helplessly for something with which to bandage it.

The Fifth-Dimension Tube |William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Helplessly the boy spun the cylinder and snapped the hammer again and again, but to no purpose.

Twenty-Four Unusual Stories for Boys and Girls |Anna Cogswell Tyler
How helplessly one wades in the shifting, unstable footing—tumbling over with a touch, like a house built of cards!

The Rectory Children |Mrs Molesworth
At his trousers I helplessly stopped short, lost in the voluminous recesses of each leg.

Rambles Beyond Railways; |Wilkie Collins

British Dictionary definitions for helplessly

helpless

/ (ˈhɛlplɪs) /

adjective

unable to manage independently

made powerless or weak they were helpless from so much giggling

without help

Derived forms of helpless

helplessly, adverb helplessness, noun

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

helpless

adjective

Origin of helpless

OTHER WORDS FROM helpless

Words nearby helpless

Example sentences from the Web for helplessly

British Dictionary definitions for helplessly

adjective

Derived forms of helpless

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

helpless

adjective

Origin of helpless

OTHER WORDS FROM helpless

Words nearby helpless

Words related to helplessly

Example sentences from the Web for helplessly

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adjective

Derived forms of helpless

British Dictionary definitions for helplessly