How to Use helpless in a Sentence

helpless

adjective
Definition of helplessnext
Synonyms for helplessnext
  • The crowd was helpless with laughter.
  • He was helpless with rage.
  • Firefighters were helpless against the blaze.
  • The civilians were helpless against their attackers.
  • I feel helpless. Isn't there anything I can do?
  • That does not mean the rest of the staff has been helpless.
    — Sarah Valenzuela, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2023
  • The staff couldn’t help but feel helpless about the future.
    — Lee O. Sanderlin, Baltimore Sun, 21 July 2023
  • And to cause the death of that helpless baby is so wrong.
    — Mary Colurso | [email protected], al, 2 Dec. 2020
  • Feel helpless watching the agent zip-tie a green net around the crate.
    — Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Washington Post, 24 Aug. 2022
  • Any of these tourist ships caught in the area at the wrong time would be helpless to capsize.
    — Bradley Brownell / Jalopnik, Quartz, 11 June 2024
  • Other Trump aides who were not at the club at the time were helpless to stop him.
    — Maggie Haberman, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024
  • But then over the past few months, the tone went from helpless to straight up reckless.
    — Malaika Jabali, Essence, 25 Aug. 2021
  • When children and teens feel helpless, the world can feel like a scary place.
    — Katie Hurley, CNN, 18 July 2022
  • Without them, the Pistons were helpless against the team with the NBA's best record.
    — Dana Gauruder, Detroit Free Press, 21 Feb. 2020
  • Unlike the dogs, there is a group of people who refuse to learn to be helpless.
    — Nathan Furr, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2023
  • The Bears offense was mostly helpless in the first half.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 26 Sep. 2021
  • In the loss to the Raiders, the defense was almost helpless defending the run.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 15 Nov. 2020
  • And the helpless feeling is real...and felt by many of both races.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 3 June 2020
  • And those soldiers and marines feel very helpless about that.
    — ABC News, 15 Aug. 2021
  • The rout was on, and the freshman quarterback was helpless to stop it.
    — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2021
  • Trust me, Jews are not helpless in the face of arguments.
    — David Harsanyi, National Review, 17 Nov. 2020
  • Maybe tending to them, in a time of helpless loss, has been a way of making sense of grief.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 20 Apr. 2021
  • Feeling helpless, the two went home to figure out what to do next.
    — Tricia Despres, PEOPLE.com, 5 Nov. 2021
  • There are so many things that are out of your control, which leads you to feel helpless and lost.
    — Jack Kelly, Forbes, 13 May 2022
  • The truth is that these leaders are helpless to think any other way.
    — Andrew Mawson, Forbes, 17 May 2022
  • Days passed and O'Brien was overwhelmed with thoughts of Freddie, so small and helpless.
    — Kate Collins, USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2022
  • During the first half of the season, South Elgin’s Zoie Lewis felt helpless at times.
    — Paul Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Born helpless, cubs don’t even open their eyes until about a month old.
    — National Geographic, 14 Feb. 2020
  • The beatings continued even as victims were helpless on the ground, the video shows.
    — Mark Price, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2025
  • The whole team will come out looking as helpless as Jake Gyllenhaal.
    — Tim Cowlishaw The Dallas Morning News, arkansasonline.com, 12 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'helpless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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