helpless

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlplɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: help‧less

Adjective

helpless (comparative more helpless, superlative most helpless)

1. Unable to defend oneself.
   • 1995, Bryan Adams, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?:

     Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms
     You know you really love a woman

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: FTL Drive Codex entry:

     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.
   • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 41:

     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. (obsolete) From which there is no possibility of being saved.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     For, while they fly that gulf's devouring jawes,
     They on the rock are rent and sunck in helplesse wawes.

Derived terms

• helplessly
• helplessness

Translations

unable to defend oneself — see also defenseless

• Arabic: عَاجِز (ʕājiz)
• Belarusian: бездапамо́жны (bjezdapamóžny), бяспо́мачны (bjaspómačny), бяссі́льны (bjassílʹny)
• Bengali: অক্ষম (bn) (okkhom), লাচার (bn) (lacar), নাচার (bn) (nacar)
• Bulgarian: безпо́мощен (bg) (bezpómošten), безси́лен (bg) (bezsílen)
• Catalan: indefens
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無助的／无助的 (zh) (wúzhù), 無力的／无力的 (zh) (wúlì de)

• Czech: bezmocný (cs), bezradný
• Danish: hjælpeløs (da)
• Dutch: hulpeloos (nl)
• Esperanto: senhelpa
• Finnish: avuton (fi)
• French: sans défense
• Georgian: უმწეო (umc̣eo)
• German: hilflos (de)
• Greek: αβοήθητος (el) (avoḯthitos)
• Hindi: विवश (hi) (vivaś), असहाय (hi) (ashāy), अशक्त (hi) (aśakt)
• Hungarian: kiszolgáltatott (hu), védtelen (hu)
• Ido: senhelpa
• Igbo: enweghị enyemaka
• Irish: fágtha
• Italian: indifeso (it)
• Japanese: 無力な (ja) (むりょくな, muryoku na)
• Khmer: ដែលឥតអនុភាព (dael ət a’nu’pʰiep)
• Korean: 무력하다 (ko) (muryeokhada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ناچار (naçar), بێ دەسەڵات (bê desellat)

• Latin: inops
• Macedonian: беспомошен (bespomošen), немоќен (nemoḱen)
• Malagasy: afa-manoatra
• Maltese: hilflose
• Maori: paraheahea
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hjelpeløs

• Plautdietsch: halplooss
• Polish: bezradny (pl), bezsilny (pl), bezbronny (pl)
• Portuguese: indefeso (pt)
• Romanian: neajutorat (ro)
• Russian: беспо́мощный (ru) (bespómoščnyj), бесси́льный (ru) (bessílʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бе̏спомоћан

  Roman: bȅspomoćan

• Slovak: bezmocný, bezradný
• Slovene: nemočni
• Spanish: indefenso (es), desamparado (es) m
• Swedish: hjälplös (sv)
• Turkish: âciz (tr)
• Ukrainian: безпо́мічний (uk) (bezpómičnyj), безси́лий (uk) (bezsýlyj)
• Urdu: بے بس (be bas), مَجبُور (majbūr)
• West Frisian: helpleas

lacking help; powerless

• Hungarian: tehetetlen (hu)
• Spanish: impotente (es)

unable to act without help; needing help; feeble

• Bengali: অসহায় (bn) (ośohaẏ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無助的／无助的 (zh) (wúzhù)

• Finnish: avuton (fi)
• French: désemparé (fr)
• Hindi: असहाय (hi) (ashāy), अशक्त (hi) (aśakt)
• Hungarian: magatehetetlen (hu), gyámoltalan (hu)
• Japanese: 無力な (ja) (むりょくな, muryoku na)
• Korean: 무력하다 (ko) (muryeokhada)
• Maori: mohemohe, paraheahea
• Russian: беспо́мощный (ru) (bespómoščnyj), не́мощный (ru) (némoščnyj)
• Spanish: incapaz (es), desvalido (es)
• Ukrainian: безпора́дний (uk) (bezporádnyj), безпо́мічний (uk) (bezpómičnyj), безси́лий (uk) (bezsýlyj)

uncontrollable — see uncontrollable

Further reading

• “helpless”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “helpless”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.