different between distressed vs helpless

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st??st/
• Rhymes: -?st
• Hyphenation: dis?tressed

Adjective

distressed (comparative more distressed, superlative most distressed)

1. anxious or uneasy

   I'm distressed that John hasn't answered my calls. I hope nothing bad happened to him on the way here.

2. (of merchandise, etc.) damaged
3. (of a property) offered for sale after foreclosure
4. (of furniture, etc.) faded or abused in order to appear old, or antique

Translations

Verb

distressed

1. simple past tense and past participle of distress

English

Etymology

From Middle English helples, from Old English *helpl?as (“helpless”) from Proto-Germanic *help?lausaz, equivalent to help +? -less. Compare Dutch hulpeloos (“helpless”), German hilflos (“helpless”), Swedish hjälplös (“helpless”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?lpl?s/
• Hyphenation: help?less

Adjective

helpless (comparative more helpless, superlative most helpless)

1. Unable to defend oneself.
   • 1995, Bryan Adams, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?

     Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms

     You know you really love a woman

2. Lacking help; powerless.
3. Unable to act without help; needing help; feeble.
4. Uncontrollable.

   a helpless urge

5. (obsolete) From which there is no possibility of being saved.

   • For, while they fly that gulf's devouring jawes,
     They on the rock are rent and sunck in helplesse wawes.

Derived terms

• helplessly
• helplessness

Translations

Further reading

• helpless in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• helpless in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.