What is another word for helplessness?
Synonyms for helplessness
help·less·ness
This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word helplessness.
Wiktionary
English Synonyms and Antonyms
helplessness
Synonyms:
awkwardness, dulness, feebleness, imbecility, impotence, inability, inaptitude, incapacity, incompetence, inefficiency, maladroitness, stupidity, unskilfulness, weaknessAntonyms:
ability, aptitude, capability, capacity, cleverness, cogency, competency, dexterity, efficacy, efficiency, energy, expertness, faculty, force, might, power, qualification, readiness, skill, strength, susceptibility, talent
Princeton's WordNet
helplessness, weakness, impuissancenoun
powerlessness revealed by an inability to act
"in spite of their weakness the group remains active"
Synonyms:
impuissance, weakness, failinghelplessnessnoun
the state of needing help from something
Synonyms:
impuissance, weaknesshelplessnessnoun
a feeling of being unable to manage
Synonyms:
impuissance, weakness
Matched Categories
PPDB, the paraphrase database
List of paraphrases for "helplessness":
powerlessness, impotence, defencelessness, distress, inability, hopelessness, helpless, orphanhood
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
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Words popularity by usage frequency
ranking | word | |
---|---|---|
#8215 | failing | |
#10957 | weakness | |
#11794 | inability | |
#12669 | distress | |
#19210 | impotence | |
#19578 | helpless | |
#20444 | stupidity | |
#29658 | incompetence | |
#31904 | incapacity | |
#38445 | inefficiency | |
#48812 | hopelessness | |
#49680 | helplessness | |
#73354 | powerlessness | |
#76733 | awkwardness | |
#173706 | imbecility | |
#181826 | feebleness | |
#269750 | dulness |
How to use helplessness in a sentence?
You can hear her fear, desperation and even breakdown in the audio clip, as her friends, we feel her pain and helplessness.
We can no longer allow solidarity to be equivalent to naivety, openness to be equivalent to helplessness, freedom to be equivalent to chaos. And by that, I am of course referring to the situation on our borders, citizens want to feel safe again, because only then will they be capable of helping people in need.
Providing a controlled space to understand what is going on and ways to process it will help children navigate the distressing emotions, helplessness and fear they may be experiencing.
There is a feeling of helplessness like you're trying and trying, you're trying to push against the system, and yet the patients just keep coming and coming.
We, the Russian people, are against the war Putin has unleashed. We don’t support this war, it is being waged not on our behalf, i know that right now many of you feel desperation, helplessness, shame over Vladimir Putin’s attack on the friendly nation of Ukraine. But I urge you not to despair.
Translations for helplessness
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
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Translation
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Citation
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"helplessness." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 16 Mar. 2025. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/helplessness>.
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