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
Unable to defend oneself.
- Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms You know you really love a woman1995, Bryan Adams, Have You Ever Really Loved 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.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: FTL Drive Codex entry:
2
Lacking help; powerless.
- A gaoler struck him, pushing him back in place in the hopeless, helpless line of prisoners.1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 41:
3
Unable to act without help; needing help; feeble.
4
Uncontrollable.
- a helpless urge
5
Obsolete 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.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- helplessdesk, helplessly, helplessness