helplessness

help·less  (hlpls)

adj.

1. Unable to help oneself; powerless or incompetent.

2. Lacking support or protection: They were left helpless in the storm.

3. Impossible to control; involuntary: helpless laughter.

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helpless·ly adv.

helpless·ness n.

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Helplessness 

1. As defenseless [without a gun] as a tethered goat in a jungle —Eric Ambler
2. Brutally as on a gag in her mouth, she choked on the sense of her defenselessness —Dorothy Canfield Fisher
3. Chucked about like a cork —Nicholas Monsarrat
4. Feel like a card in a deck that is being constantly shuffled —W. P. Kinsella
5. Feel like a rookie runner caught off base by a wily pitcher, hung up in that vast area between first and second, fluttering back and forth like a wounded bird who knows he’s doomed —W. P. Kinsella

   See Also: BASEBALL

6. Felt as a lost sailor on a sinking ship might feel, who throws his last rope, and no saving hands to grasp it —Stella Benson
7. Felt [as result of being moved to another home by grandparents] as if I was being kidnapped —Elizabeth Bishop
8. Felt helpless, like a rape victim —Rose Tremain
9. Felt helpless, as if he were involved in some disgraceful fraud —Katherine Anne Porter
10. Felt helpless, like a dog that’s been run over —Robert Lowry
11. Felt I was nothing but a husk blown this way and that way by the winds of misfortune —Angela Carter
12. Felt like a beast in a trap, whose enemy would come upon him soon —H. G. Wells
13. Felt like a bone between dogs —Julia O’Faolain
14. Felt like a man trapped in a swamp —Donald MacKenzie
15. Felt like a marionette, as though something outside her were jerking the strings that forced her to scream and strike —Jean Rhys
16. Felt like a wounded fish who faced a larger hungry fish —William Beechcroft
17. Felt more and more like a soldier being pitched into battle without proper orders —John Fowles
18. Felt ridiculous and out of control, like an engine breaking itself apart —Mark Helprin
19. Helpless and hopeful as a blade of grass —George Garrett

    See Also: HOPE

20. Get tossed like salad —Charles Bukowski
21. Helpless … as a hooked fish swinging to land —Thomas Hardy
22. Helpless as a lion without teeth —F. Scott Fitzgerald
23. Helpless as an infant caterpillar in a nest of hungry ants —James Montgomery
24. Helpless as a plant without water —F. Hopkinson Smith
25. Helpless [against tide of emotions] as a swimmer swept away in a strong current —Margaret Kennedy
26. Helpless as a turtle on its back —O. Henry
27. Helpless as a writhing beetle on its back —Robert Traver
28. (I have become as) helpless as if the branch I seize and the one I stood upon both broke at the same time —Tamil
29. Helpless as shadows —Jean Garrigue
30. Helpless as the dead —W. S. Gilbert
31. Helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish —Kin Hubbard
32. Helpless … like a man with a rumbling volcano in his pocket, trying to hold back the eruption with his naked hand —Irving Stone
33. Impotent yet defiant … like a wild animal driven into a hole or fettered to a stake —Arthur Train
34. It was like being in an elevator cut loose at the top. Falling, falling, and not knowing when you will hit —Margaret Atwood
35. I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter —The Holy Bible/Jeremiah
36. Lame as a butterfly spread on a pin —Shirley Kaufman
37. Like elastic, stretched beyond its uttermost, his reason, will, faculties of calculation and resolve snapped to within him —John Galsworthy
38. Looked like sheep looking for their shepherd —W. Somerset Maugham
39. My will was a leaf in a gust of wind —Natascha Wodin
40. Powerless … as a stone —Elizabeth Barrett Browning
41. Powerless as before a cataract —Simone de Beauvoir
42. Powerless as the wind —Percy Bysshe Shelley
43. The sense of being trapped ran through him like fire through dry grass —Ben Ames Williams
44. Sense of helplessness … like a soft-shell crab that just shed its shell —Kenzaburo Oë
45. Sinking under the leaden embrace of her affection like a swimmer in a drowning clutch —Edith Wharton
46. The situation [of tumbling stock market prices] is like being caught in the Bermuda Triangle —Harvey P. Eisen, New York Times, January, 1986
47. Tossed about like an empty can in the sea —Romain Gary
48. Tossed about like cattle on a train —Ignazio Silone
49. Tossed about like twigs in an angry water —Willa Cather
50. Unable to do anything … it was like watching a big cat thrash around in a cage and being helpless to free the beast —May Sarton
51. Watching a friend fail … it’s like a bunch of lifeguards standing and watching their friend drown —Robin Williams, “Sixty Minutes” interview, September 21, 1986

    The comedian’s comparison described how comedians feel when they watch one of their own fail on stage.

52. We’re all drawn by wires like puppets, and the strongest wire pulls us in the direction in which we are meant to go —Ellen Glasgow
53. Without power, like a buzzing horsefly —George Garrett
54. Worked by strings, like a Japanese marionette —W. S. Gilbert
55. Wriggling helplessly, like a butterfly impaled by a pin —Louis Bromfield

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	helplessness - powerlessness revealed by an inability to act; "in spite of their weakness the group remains active" impuissance, weakness impotence, impotency, powerlessness - the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble
	2.	helplessness - the state of needing help from something dependence, dependency, dependance - the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else
	3.	helplessness - a feeling of being unable to manage depression - sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy

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helplessness

noun vulnerability, weakness, impotence, powerlessness, disability, infirmity, feebleness, forlornness, defencelessness I remember my feelings of helplessness.

Translations

helplessness [ˈhelplɪsnɪs] N (= powerlessness) → impotencia f
he threw up his hands in a gesture of helplessness → alzó las manos en un gesto de impotencia
the helplessness of the situation made her ill with worry → era una situación de impotencia tal que enfermó de preocupación
our helplessness against enemy aircraft → nuestra indefensión ante los aviones enemigos

helplessness [ˈhɛlpləsnɪs] n → impuissance f

helplessness

n → Hilflosigkeit f; (= powerlessness) → Machtlosigkeit f

helplessness [ˈhɛlplɪsnɪs] n → impotenza