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learned helplessness

British

noun

the act of giving up trying as a result of consistent failure to be rewarded in life, thought to be a cause of depression

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Such learned helplessness would be a serious mistake.

From Slate • Aug. 15, 2025

Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s documentation of Stalinism strikes the same note: the elimination of a private existence away from politics, with the regime constantly forcing itself upon one’s attention, feeding each individual’s growing atomization and learned helplessness.

From Salon • May 24, 2025

You’re not the first person who has used the term learned helplessness.

From Slate • Mar. 17, 2025

A local psychologist is finishing a lecture on how to overcome "learned helplessness" and believe you have the power to change your life.

From BBC • Jun. 3, 2024

I will not fully surrender to pessimism because there may be no recovery from that state of learned helplessness.

From Salon • Jul. 26, 2023

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023