defenceless

1. 1.

   lacking protection or support

   “a defenseless child”

   Synonymsdefenseless

   Similarvulnerable
2. 2.

   lacking weapons for self-defense

   Synonymsdefenseless

   Similarunarmed

1. 1.

   without defense

   “the child was standing in the middle of the crossfire, defenselessly”

   Synonymsdefenselessdefenselesslydefencelessly

Questions about defenceless

What does defenceless mean?

defenceless means "lacking protection or support". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in defenceless?

defenceless has 4 syllables: de-fen-ce-less. The stress falls on "fen".

What is another word for defenceless?

Close synonyms include defenseless, defenseless, defenseless, defenselessly, defencelessly. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is defenceless a common word?

defenceless is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.