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helpless

adj
/ˈhɛlplɪs/

Etymology

From Middle English helples, from Old English *helplēas (“helpless”) from Proto-Germanic *helpōlausaz, equivalent to help + -less. Compare Dutch hulpeloos (“helpless”), German hilflos (“helpless”), Danish hjælpeløs (“helpless”) and Swedish hjälplös (“helpless”).

  1. inherited from *helpōlausaz✻
  2. inherited from *helplēas✻ — “helpless”
  3. inherited from helples

Definitions

  1. Unable to defend oneself.

    • Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms You know you really love a woman
    • Rana Thanoptis: Are we good? Can I go? Shepard: You conducted brutal experiments on helpless test subjects. You helped Saren. You don't get to live.

  2. Lacking help

    Lacking help; powerless.

    • A gaoler struck him, pushing him back in place in the hopeless, helpless line of prisoners.

  3. Unable to act without help

    Unable to act without help; needing help; feeble.

  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Uncontrollable.

      • a helpless urge

    2. From which there is no possibility of being saved.

      • For, while they fly that gulf's devouring jawes, They on the rock are rent and sunck in helplesse wawes.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for helpless. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA