adjective
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unable to manage independently
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made powerless or weak
they were helpless from so much giggling
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without help
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of helpless
Explanation
To be helpless is to have no ability to take care of or protect yourself from harm. A newborn baby is helpless, and needs parents to care for her. If you're helpless, you're dependent on other people to assist or care for you. Breaking both your legs will leave you helpless, and even being in an unfamiliar city can make you feel helpless as you wander around looking for your hotel late at night. You can also use helpless to mean "irresistible" or "uncontrollable," especially when someone bursts out laughing: "They broke into helpless laughter during his speech."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I should disclose that I am helpless in the face of good food packaging.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
It helps to have a dynamic, special athlete in junior receiver Jalen Flowers, who contributed one touchdown on a short pass, slipping away and outrunning helpless defenders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Others see it as the derangements of a trapped and helpless man, one with a longstanding reputation for impatience and inconstancy, a leader incapable of making up his mind whether to move forward or back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Feeling "incredibly helpless", the 36-year-old posted a short reel to her hundreds of followers on Instagram, in which she voiced her inner anxieties.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Roz still had her thoughts and her voice, but without a body she couldn’t move, so she sat there, completely helpless, and waited for the Makers to appear.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
