helplessness
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help·less
(hĕlp′lĭs)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.
help′less·ly adv.
help′less·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Helplessness
- As defenseless [without a gun] as a tethered goat in a jungle —Eric Ambler
- Brutally as on a gag in her mouth, she choked on the sense of her defenselessness —Dorothy Canfield Fisher
- Chucked about like a cork —Nicholas Monsarrat
- Feel like a card in a deck that is being constantly shuffled —W. P. Kinsella
- 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
- 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
- Felt [as result of being moved to another home by grandparents] as if I was being kidnapped —Elizabeth Bishop
- Felt helpless, like a rape victim —Rose Tremain
- Felt helpless, as if he were involved in some disgraceful fraud —Katherine Anne Porter
- Felt helpless, like a dog that’s been run over —Robert Lowry
- Felt I was nothing but a husk blown this way and that way by the winds of misfortune —Angela Carter
- Felt like a beast in a trap, whose enemy would come upon him soon —H. G. Wells
- Felt like a bone between dogs —Julia O’Faolain
- Felt like a man trapped in a swamp —Donald MacKenzie
- Felt like a marionette, as though something outside her were jerking the strings that forced her to scream and strike —Jean Rhys
- Felt like a wounded fish who faced a larger hungry fish —William Beechcroft
- Felt more and more like a soldier being pitched into battle without proper orders —John Fowles
- Felt ridiculous and out of control, like an engine breaking itself apart —Mark Helprin
- Helpless and hopeful as a blade of grass —George Garrett
See Also: HOPE
- Get tossed like salad —Charles Bukowski
- Helpless … as a hooked fish swinging to land —Thomas Hardy
- Helpless as a lion without teeth —F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Helpless as an infant caterpillar in a nest of hungry ants —James Montgomery
- Helpless as a plant without water —F. Hopkinson Smith
- Helpless [against tide of emotions] as a swimmer swept away in a strong current —Margaret Kennedy
- Helpless as a turtle on its back —O. Henry
- Helpless as a writhing beetle on its back —Robert Traver
- (I have become as) helpless as if the branch I seize and the one I stood upon both broke at the same time —Tamil
- Helpless as shadows —Jean Garrigue
- Helpless as the dead —W. S. Gilbert
- Helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish —Kin Hubbard
- Helpless … like a man with a rumbling volcano in his pocket, trying to hold back the eruption with his naked hand —Irving Stone
- Impotent yet defiant … like a wild animal driven into a hole or fettered to a stake —Arthur Train
- It was like being in an elevator cut loose at the top. Falling, falling, and not knowing when you will hit —Margaret Atwood
- I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter —The Holy Bible/Jeremiah
- Lame as a butterfly spread on a pin —Shirley Kaufman
- Like elastic, stretched beyond its uttermost, his reason, will, faculties of calculation and resolve snapped to within him —John Galsworthy
- Looked like sheep looking for their shepherd —W. Somerset Maugham
- My will was a leaf in a gust of wind —Natascha Wodin
- Powerless … as a stone —Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- Powerless as before a cataract —Simone de Beauvoir
- Powerless as the wind —Percy Bysshe Shelley
- The sense of being trapped ran through him like fire through dry grass —Ben Ames Williams
- Sense of helplessness … like a soft-shell crab that just shed its shell —Kenzaburo Oë
- Sinking under the leaden embrace of her affection like a swimmer in a drowning clutch —Edith Wharton
- The situation [of tumbling stock market prices] is like being caught in the Bermuda Triangle —Harvey P. Eisen, New York Times, January, 1986
- Tossed about like an empty can in the sea —Romain Gary
- Tossed about like cattle on a train —Ignazio Silone
- Tossed about like twigs in an angry water —Willa Cather
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- Without power, like a buzzing horsefly —George Garrett
- Worked by strings, like a Japanese marionette —W. S. Gilbert
- Wriggling helplessly, like a butterfly impaled by a pin —Louis Bromfield
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
| Noun | 1. | helplessness - powerlessness revealed by an inability to act; "in spite of their weakness the group remains active" 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 |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
helplessness
noun vulnerability, weakness, impotence, powerlessness, disability, infirmity, feebleness, forlornness, defencelessness I remember my feelings of helplessness.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
helplessness
nounThe condition or state of being incapable of accomplishing or effecting anything:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
عَجْز، إنْعِدام الحيلَه
bezmocnost
hjælpeløshed
gyámoltalanság
hjálparleysi; magnleysi
nebogljenost
acizlikçaresizlik
helplessness
[ˈhelplɪsnɪs] N (= powerlessness) → impotencia fhe 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
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
helplessness
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
help
(help) verb1. to do something with or for someone that he cannot do alone, or that he will find useful. Will you help me with this translation?; Will you please help me (to) translate this poem?; Can I help?; He fell down and I helped him up.
2. to play a part in something; to improve or advance. Bright posters will help to attract the public to the exhibition; Good exam results will help his chances of a job.
3. to make less bad. An aspirin will help your headache.
4. to serve (a person) in a shop. Can I help you, sir?
5. (with can(not), ~could (not)) to be able not to do something or to prevent something. He looked so funny that I couldn't help laughing; Can I help it if it rains?
noun1. the act of helping, or the result of this. Can you give me some help?; Your digging the garden was a big help; Can I be of help to you?
2. someone or something that is useful. You're a great help to me.
3. a servant, farmworker etc. She has hired a new help.
4. (usually with no) a way of preventing something. Even if you don't want to do it, the decision has been made – there's no help for it now.
ˈhelper nounWe need several helpers for this job.
ˈhelpful adjectivea very helpful boy; You may find this book helpful.
ˈhelpfully adverbˈhelpfulness noun
ˈhelping noun
the amount of food one has on one's plate. a large helping of pudding.
ˈhelpless adjective needing the help of other people; unable to do anything for oneself. A baby is almost completely helpless.
ˈhelplessly adverbˈhelplessness noun
help oneself
1. (with to) to give oneself or take (food etc). Help yourself to another piece of cake; `Can I have a pencil?' `Certainly – help yourself; He helped himself to (= stole) my jewellery.
2. (with cannot, ~could not) to be able to stop (oneself). I burst out laughing when he told me – I just couldn't help myself.
help out to help (a person), usually for a short time because the person is in some difficulty. I help out in the shop from time to time; Could you help me out by looking after the baby?
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
helplessness
n (psych, etc.) indefensión f; learned — indefensión aprendidaEnglish-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.