helplessness
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
helplessness (usually uncountable, plural helplessnesses)
- The state of being helpless.
- 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 639762314, page 0105:
- 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]
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]
- Webster, Noah (1828) , “helplessness”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language
- helplessness in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- “impotence” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.