helpless

CEFRB1

/ˈhɛlplɪs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Unable to act or protect yourself.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Lacking help; powerless.

Examples

  • How lonely and helpless she must feel left all by herself!

  • The child is helpless in his rage.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Unable to act without help; needing help; feeble.

  2. Unable to defend oneself.

  3. From which there is no possibility of being saved.

More examples

In context

  • a helpless urge

  • 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.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The baby bird was blank and could not feed itself.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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”).