defenseless
Criminals took advantage of the uncertain status of the colony and defenselessness of its inhabitants.
The impossibility of punishing those truly responsible creates a feeling of defenselessness among the family of the victims.
The constant state of stress caused by a feeling of defenselessness may make some people more prone to disease.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Weakness and vulnerability
Achilles heel
asthenia
at a low ebbidiom
atonic
atony
fragile
fragility
frail
glass jaw
helpless
shakily
shakiness
shaky
sitting duck
sitting target
weak-willed
weakling
weakly
weakness
weedy

Examples of defenselessness

defenselessness
Our defenselessness means these crooks are making off with a lot of money.
From CNN
Her repeated emphasis on her “unprotected” state in the world constructs her defenselessness as a condition both endearing and requiring respect.
Her very defenselessness should have been her protection.
From Project Gutenberg
But it was not his defenselessness that stayed me.
From Project Gutenberg
So she was in trouble; there was a call upon her courage, an attack on her defenselessness.
From Project Gutenberg
This last proof of her utter defenselessness infuriated her.
From Project Gutenberg
He slept as peacefully, as devotedly, as a baby, confiding his defenselessness to the night with no tremors or uncertainty.
From Project Gutenberg
Only the women and children ran the risk of remaining in the houses, in their defenselessness trusting to the mercy of the enemy.
From Project Gutenberg
It was a feeling of defenselessness against some unrecognized but malicious influence.
From Project Gutenberg
Its exposed situation, under our present conditions of defenselessness, has long been a cause for anxiety.
From Project Gutenberg
His defenselessness proceeded from relations of comparative intimacy with the actress, and his priestly knowledge of the guilty person.
From Project Gutenberg
He felt a sudden shame, as though she had accused him of taking advantage of her defenselessness.
From Project Gutenberg
Other failures had left her with a sense of defenselessness in a world so largely populated by men who glanced up from their desks to refuse her plea for work.
From Project Gutenberg
It's just their defenselessness that tempts the tormentor, just the angelic confidence of the child who has no refuge and no appeal, that sets his vile blood on fire.
From Project Gutenberg
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.