helpless

adjectivecommon in dialogue

//ˈhɛlplɪs//

Unable to defend oneself.

adjective

1
Unable to defend oneself.
Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms You know you really love 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.
2
Lacking help; powerless.
A gaoler struck him, pushing him back in place in the hopeless, helpless line of prisoners.
3
Unable to act without help; needing help; feeble.
4
Uncontrollable.
a helpless urge
5
obsoleteFrom which there is no possibility of being saved.
For, while they fly that gulf's devouring jawes, They on the rock are rent and sunck in helplesse wawes.

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”), Danish hjælpeløs (“helpless”) and Swedish hjälplös (“helpless”).

Forms

comparative: more helpless
superlative: most helpless

Helper · A city in Carbon County, Utah, United States, which got its…helpful · Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.helping · The act of giving aid or assistance (to).

helpless · Unable to defend oneself.

Helps · A surname.hem · Used to fill in the gap of a pause with a vocalized sound.Hem · A surname.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.