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.
The line that set off the frenzy, in its entirety, is: “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
The drugs targeted rapidly dividing cancer cells in the marrow, but in doing so further damaged an already compromised blood- and immune-making system, often leaving patients defenseless against infection and bleeding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
The county has said the cost of taking depositions for more than 11,000 cases would be “astronomical,” and that no records exist for many of the older cases, leaving them defenseless.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2026
"Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds," the pope said at the mass in St Peter's Basilica.
From Barron's ● Dec. 25, 2025
An Air Force general blessed with the surname of Power warned a shaken Senate committee that the Russians could render this country defenseless with a missile strike lasting only thirty minutes.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
