adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Without defence; undefended. UK

   "Paralysed, the old man was defenceless; and the robbers easily stole all of his money."

Adjective

1. 1
   lacking weapons for self-defense wordnet
2. 2
   lacking protection or support wordnet

Adverb

1. 1
   without defense wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

defencelesslydefencelesslydefenselessdefenselessdefenselesslyunarmed

Example

More examples

"The life of the prisoner and of his defenceless daughter is threatened by a diabolical plot."

Etymology

From defence + -less.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.