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HELPLESSNESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Powerlessness revealed by an inability to act
Example:
in spite of their weakness the group remains active
Synonyms:
helplessness; impuissance; weakness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("helplessness" is a kind of...):
impotence; impotency; powerlessness (the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble)
Derivation:
helpless (lacking in or deprived of strength or power)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A feeling of being unable to manage
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("helplessness" is a kind of...):
depression (sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)
Derivation:
helpless (unable to manage independently)
helpless (unable to function; without help)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The state of needing help from something
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("helplessness" is a kind of...):
dependance; dependence; dependency (the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else)
Context examples:
A straLanguage cannot describe nge sense of helplessness fell upon the girls as the gray bonnet vanished round the corner, and despair seized them when a few minutes later Miss Crocker appeared, and said she'd come to dinner.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
So it was while Martin held her hand and gladly talked, that her love for him prompted her to press his hand in return, and that her eyes were moist and luminous at sight of his helplessness and of the marks suffering had stamped upon his face.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
The liability is that his part helplessness will make him more malignant than ever.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
And now, with the love-master, his snuggling was the deliberate act of putting himself into a position of hopeless helplessness.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my helplessness overpowered all other feelings.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
With such a regard for her, indeed, as his had long been, a regard founded on the most endearing claims of innocence and helplessness, and completed by every recommendation of growing worth, what could be more natural than the change?
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
It is no pleasant picture I can conjure up of myself, Humphrey Van Weyden, in that noisome ship’s galley, crouched in a corner over my task, my face raised to the face of the creature about to strike me, my lips lifted and snarling like a dog’s, my eyes gleaming with fear and helplessness and the courage that comes of fear and helplessness.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Besides, it was a position of such utter helplessness that White Fang's whole nature revolted against it.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
He hated the chain that bound him, the men who peered in at him through the slats of the pen, the dogs that accompanied the men and that snarled malignantly at him in his helplessness.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
