helplessadjective
uk/ˈhelp.ləs/us/ˈhelp.ləs/C1 unable to do anything to help yourself or anyone else:
a helpless two-day-old baby
You feel so helpless because there's nothing you can do to make the child better.
The government is helpless (to act) against these crooks.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Weakness and vulnerability
- Achilles heel
- at a low ebb idiom
- be (only) flesh and blood idiom
- be sb's poodle idiom
- chink in sb's armour idiom
- ebb
- faint
- indefensible
- lax
- limp
- malleable
- man of straw
- susceptible
- toothless
- totter
- underbelly
- unprotected
- unsteady
- vulnerable
- wraith
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helplessly
adverb uk/ˈhelp.ləs.li/us/ˈhelp.ləs.li/
Unable to swim, he watched helplessly as the child struggled desperately in the water.
helplessness
noun [ U ] uk/ˈhelp.ləs.nəs/us/ˈhelp.ləs.nəs/
I was overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness as I was wheeled into the operating theatre.