helplessly

«helplessly» in Mova's school dictionary: Without being able to help yourself or do anything about… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adverb

meaning for a pupil

1) Without being able to help yourself or do anything about a situation. tree →

2) Without being able to stop, as in «laughed helplessly». tree →

sense in the lessons

Common in stories: a character watches helplessly as something goes wrong, or laughs helplessly at a joke. It shows that someone has no power in a moment, which builds tension or sympathy.

examples

• We watched helplessly as the balloon floated away. tree →
• The kitten mewed helplessly at the top of the tree. tree →
• Toad struggled helplessly in the water. tree →
• The children laughed helplessly at the clown. tree →
• Alice cried helplessly in the Pool of Tears. tree →
• The boat drifted helplessly towards the weir. tree →
• “I can’t either,” cried Pinocchio; and his laughter turned to tears as he stumbled about helplessly. tree →

note

Adverb from «helpless» (help + less = without help). Noun: helplessness. «Laughed helplessly» means could not stop laughing, not that they were sad.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «helplessly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.