How to Use helpless in a Sentence

helpless

adjective
  • 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?
  • The Nuggets were helpless to stop it.
    — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Schools, though, aren’t helpless.
    — Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Schools, though, aren’t helpless.
    — Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2026
  • And those soldiers and marines feel very helpless about that.
    — ABC News, 15 Aug. 2021
  • They’re just fed up of being helpless.
    — Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Feel helpless watching the agent zip-tie a green net around the crate.
    — Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Washington Post, 24 Aug. 2022
  • High, helpless sound in the tin room, just, echoing back.
    — Literary Hub, 13 Aug. 2025
  • Born helpless, cubs don’t even open their eyes until about a month old.
    — National Geographic, 14 Feb. 2020
  • When children and teens feel helpless, the world can feel like a scary place.
    — Katie Hurley, CNN, 18 July 2022
  • So little, so helpless, so good.
    — Literary Hub, 15 Jan. 2026
  • But then over the past few months, the tone went from helpless to straight up reckless.
    — Malaika Jabali, Essence, 25 Aug. 2021
  • Frankly, a lot of us feel sort of helpless to do anything about the chaos around here.
    — Jon Kamp, WSJ, 10 Feb. 2019
  • 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
  • Punk appeared helpless as Reigns picked him up.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 20 Apr. 2026
  • The truth is that these leaders are helpless to think any other way.
    — Andrew Mawson, Forbes, 17 May 2022
  • 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
  • As with so many other issues these days, the truth is helpless against it.
    — Drew Magary, GQ, 6 June 2018
  • Females have litters of one to four cubs, which are born blind and helpless.
    — Elaina Zachos, National Geographic, 11 June 2018
  • Unlike the dogs, there is a group of people who refuse to learn to be helpless.
    — Nathan Furr, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2023
  • Poor, helpless people are being dragged out of their homes.
    — Claudia Levens, jsonline.com, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Still, the plight of the helpless child strangely improves us.
    — CBS News, 24 June 2018
  • Evans stood next to a small boat, clad in waders and helpless to stop the rising waters.
    — Keisha Rowe, The Courier-Journal, 2 July 2025
  • At the same time, though, Thomas feels what many fans feel during games -- helpless.
    — Dan Labbe, cleveland.com, 22 Dec. 2017
  • 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

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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