helplessness

CEFRB2

/ˈhɛlplɪsnɪs/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

Examples

Some speculators take advantage of the ignorance and helplessness of old people.
We will have to get over the feeling of helplessness.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meaning

In context

Near-synonyms: powerlessness, impotence
ADAM: 'You are faced with overwhelming power. Accept your helplessness.'
Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

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

The word in print, with each source given in full.

ADAM: 'You are faced with overwhelming power. Accept your helplessness.'
2021 October 8, Metroid Dread, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, scene: Adam Briefing, level/area: Cataris
From the most ancient times to the present, in the crudest primitive tribe or the most magnificently ornamented civilization, man has found himself in a state of awed helplessness when confronted by the phenomena of strange illnesses or aberrations.
1950, L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics, New Era Publications, published 1999, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 10
Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

From helpless + -ness.