different between lonesome vs helpless

English

Alternative forms

• lanesome (Scotland)

Etymology

From lone +? -some, mid-17th century.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?lo?ns?m/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l??ns?m/
• Hyphenation: lone?some

Adjective

lonesome (comparative more lonesome, superlative most lonesome)

1. Unhappy due to being alone; lonely.

Derived terms

• high lonesome sound

Translations

Noun

lonesome (plural lonesomes)

1. (informal) Oneself alone.

   I sat and watched the cars pass all by my lonesome.

Derived terms

• on one's lonesome

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.