Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective same as defenseless.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Without defence; undefended.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective lacking protection or support
  • adverb without defense
  • adjective lacking weapons for self-defense

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

defence +‎ -less

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Examples

  • They were both outsiders, social lightning conductors, defenceless from the start.

    An Amazon.com Books Blog featuring news, reviews, interviews and guest author blogs. 2008

  • Thank your relationship to my sister that I punish you no further, and learn that to use other men's arms to strike the defenceless is a stain upon nobility. '

    Stray Pearls Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

  • Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla was on Wednesday accused of grossly violating the human rights of 384 "defenceless" prisoners by refusing to consider and process their applications for presidential pardons.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • Sanco said in a statement that it condemned the use of violence to remove "defenceless" people.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2001

  • Stepmum Tara Jefferson jailed for whipping girl with dog lead A STEPMOTHER who "deliberately and systematically" whipped a young "defenceless" girl with a dog lead because she was angry with her then partner has been jailed.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • A heroin addict who stabbed a '' defenceless '' student to death during a burglary has been jailed for a minimum of 26 years.

    Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news 2010

  • Ottoway man Trevor Bond jailed for cutting dog's throat AN Ottoway man who slit the throat of a "defenceless" dog has been the first to be jailed in South Australia since new animal cruelty legislation was introduced in 2008.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Even when she talks Touko out of her Drama Club doramaz, it's her 'defenceless' look that gets out her kouhai's dere-dere.

    Anime Nano! 2009

  • A former security adviser to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wept as he recalled being warned he and his "defenceless" family could be murdered by IRA assassins.

    unknown title 2009

  • He said facial injuries appeared to have been inflicted when the detainees were being held down or were "defenceless".

    Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk 2009

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