Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

defenceless

/dɪˈfɛnsləs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.82 in modern English

Syllables: de-fence-less
IPA: /dɪˈfɛnsləs/

17

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Without defence; undefended.

British usage

Example Sentences

"Paralysed, the old man was defenceless; and the robbers easily stole all of his money."
"The hawk, foul murderer of defenceless birds, has sighted the chicken on the bare patch."
"Railway engines have been attacked with gunfire by raiding aircraft on both sides of the Channel and the impression has grown up that they are defenceless monsters to be pestered with impunity. The first engine to disprove this vainglorious theory was, we are glad to note, a British one. [The locomotive boiler exploded, causing the aircraft to crash.]"

Etymology

Etymology tree English defence Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English defenceless From defence + -less.

Regional Pronunciation

British English: /dɪˈfɛnsləs/

Usage

British usage

Inflected Forms

more defenceless (comparative) most defenceless (superlative) defenseless (alternative)

Derived Forms

defencelessly defencelessness

Synonyms

defenseless defenselessly defencelessly

Homonyms

defenseless

Questions

How do you pronounce defenceless?: The recorded pronunciation is /dɪˈfɛnsləs/.
What does defenceless mean?: Without defence; undefended.
Where does defenceless come from?: Etymology tree English defence Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English defenceless From defence + -less.

How to pronounce defenceless

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