Definition of Defenceless

1. Adjective. Lacking protection or support. "A defenseless child"

Exact synonyms: Defenseless
Similar to: Vulnerable
Derivative terms: Defencelessness, Defenselessness

2. Adverb. Without defense. "The child was standing in the middle of the crossfire, defenselessly"
Exact synonyms: Defencelessly, Defenseless, Defenselessly
Partainyms: Defenseless

3. Adjective. Lacking weapons for self-defense.
Exact synonyms: Defenseless
Similar to: Unarmed
Derivative terms: Defencelessness, Defenselessness

Definition of Defenceless

1. Adjective. Without defence; undefended. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Defenceless

defeminize
defeminized
defeminizes
defeminizing
defence
defence accord
defence accords
defence diplomacy
defence force
defence mechanism
defence policy
defence program
defence reaction
defence system
defenced
defenceless (current term)
defencelessly
defencelessness
defenceman
defencemen
defences
defencing
defencively
defend
defendable
defendably
defendant
defendants
defendaunt
defended

Literary usage of Defenceless

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777-1795, 1801 by George Clinton, Hugh Hastings, James Austin Holden, New York (State). Governor (1801-1804 : Clinton), New York (State). State Historian (1901)
"WESTCHESTER'S defenceless CONDITION. Colonel Thomas Submits the Matter to ... S'r, The exposed and defenceless Situation of the County of Westchester on the ..."

2. Reminiscences of the Last Sixty-five Years: Commencing with the Battle of by Ebenezer Smith Thomas (1840)
"When war was declared, Charleston was in a very defenceless state; Fort Moultrie might be said to be its only defence^ and it no doubt would have proved a ..."

3. Life and Public Services of Charles Sumner by Charles Edwards Lester (1874)
"pedition has seized, with pilfering rapacity, the defenceless province of California. It is by virtue of this Act, that General Kearney has marched upon and ..."

4. Publications by English Dialect Society (1850)
"fore returned to Bir, and raised some fortifications about that open defenceless Town, where they encamped ten or twelve days, to countenance the workmen. ..."

5. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1831)
"... and unwilling to condemn, the soldiers determined his suspense, by plunging their daggers at the same moment into the breasts of the defenceless youths. ..."

6. The Descent of Man: And Selection in Relation to Sex by Charles ( Darwin (1890)
"... structure—Decrease in size of the canine teeth—Increased size and altered shape of the skull—Nakedness—Absence of a tail—defenceless condition of man. ..."

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