defenseless
Americanadjective
Explanation
Someone who's defenseless is vulnerable and unprotected. Babies need to be taken care of because they're completely defenseless. A brand new chess player is somewhat defenseless against an experienced player, and a kitten is defenseless without its mother's fierce protection. Con men sometimes target people they see as defenseless, like the very elderly. The word defenseless dates from the 16th century, combining defense, "action of guarding or protecting," from the Latin defendere, "protect," and -less, "without or lacking."
Vocabulary lists containing defenseless
Power Suffix: -less
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -less
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-less
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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.
“When you see the play, his head is removed from the forceable contact. Defenseless is a little bit more of an issue relative to the position the receiver’s in,” Payton added.
From Washington Times • Oct. 23, 2023
Defenseless: Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan stepped down from consideration for the full post today, an announcement shortly followed by reports of a brutal family incident from several years ago.
From Slate • Jun. 18, 2019
Defenseless against the fickle will of a tool-making species, technology doesn’t “want” any of these things.
From Slate • Jun. 1, 2015
Defenseless, he instinctively began to wriggle his toes, his feet, his ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, to fling his whole body about in the loose gyrations of the Charleston.
From Time Magazine Archive
Defenseless even against her own thoughts, which told her that the walls were clammy with goo.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
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.
