helplessly

1. 1.

   in a helpless manner

   “the crowd watched him helplessly”

   Synonymsimpotently

Questions about helplessly

What does helplessly mean?

helplessly means "in a helpless manner".

How many syllables are in helplessly?

helplessly has 3 syllables: hel-ples-sly. The stress falls on "hel". In IPA it is /ˈhɛlpləsli/.

What is another word for helplessly?

Close synonyms include impotently. 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 helplessly a common word?

helplessly 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.