helplessness
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
helplessness (usually uncountable, plural helplessnesses)
- The state of being helpless.
- 1950, L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics[1], New Era Publications, published 1999, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 10:
- From the most ancient times to the present, in the crudest primitive tribe or the most magnificently ornamented civilization, man has found himself in a state of awed helplessness when confronted by the phenomena of strange illnesses or aberrations.
- 2021 October 8, Metroid Dread, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, scene: Adam Briefing, level/area: Cataris:
- ADAM: 'You are faced with overwhelming power. Accept your helplessness.'
- A feeling of inadequacy or impotence.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
state of being helpless
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feeling of inadequacy or impotence
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See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- helplessness in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- “helplessness”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “impotence” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.