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
- helplessly adverb
- helplessness noun
Etymology
Origin of helpless
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 was helpless because I was fighting a demon bigger than the both of us,” Zagaroli says.
“Now there’s just a sense of loneliness that they both have. We are helpless, and we can’t do anything to fix that.”
From Los Angeles Times
Williams’ shift from prostrate grief to helpless amusement hints at hidden dimensions of a character who will always be a couple of steps ahead of the men trying to control her.
From Los Angeles Times
When the fires slammed Los Angeles, Oberholtzer who uses they/them pronouns, watched for news updates until they couldn’t take the helpless feeling of watching from afar.
From Los Angeles Times
“You feel hopeless and helpless, you have nothing,” she said, adding that she had to take out large loans to rebuild her house and livelihood.
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.
