helpless

Etymology

From Middle English helples, from Old English *helplēas (“helpless”) from Proto-Germanic *helpōlausaz, equivalent to help + -less. Compare Dutch hulpeloos (“helpless”), German hilflos (“helpless”), Swedish hjälplös (“helpless”).

adj

  1. Unable to defend oneself.
    Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms You know you really love a woman 1995, Bryan Adams, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?
    Rana Thanoptis: Are we good? Can I go? Shepard: You conducted brutal experiments on helpless test subjects. You helped Saren. You don't get to live. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: FTL Drive Codex entry
  2. Lacking help; powerless.
    A gaoler struck him, pushing him back in place in the hopeless, helpless line of prisoners. 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 41
  3. Unable to act without help; needing help; feeble.
  4. Uncontrollable.
    a helpless urge
  5. (obsolete) From which there is no possibility of being saved.

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