helplessly

comparative more helplessly · superlative most helplessly

1. Without protection or assistance.

   The fish flopped helplessly in the tiny remaining pool.

   1 more example

   The day of our arrival two belugas had accidentally become grounded in the shallows of a river delta near the station, and now that the tide had gone out, they seemed helplessly stuck.

   1989 May, Jeff MacInnis, “Braving the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, pages 594-595

2. Without the ability to help oneself.

   The boy rolled on the floor laughing helplessly.

   1 more example

   The whole covey of victims was thus netted; the household ruin was thus full and orbicular; and in that proportion the tendency of men and women, flutter as they might, would be helplessly and hopelessly to sink into the all-conquering hands of the mighty murderer.

   1854, Thomas De Quincey, “On Murder, Considered as One of the Fine Arts. Postscript.”, in Miscellanies (De Quincey’s Works; IV), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 76

3. Without the ability to react actively.

   The spectators gaped helplessly as the balloon approached the power lines.