The property of being helpless in the face of attack.

synonyms: defencelessness, unprotectedness.

Roget 665: danger, peril, insecurity, jeopardy, risk, hazard, venture, precariousness, slipperiness; instability etc. 149; defenselessness etc. adj., exposure etc. (liability) 177; vulnerability; vulnerable point, heel of Achilles^†; forlorn hope etc. (hopelessness) 859.    [Dangerous course] leap in the dark etc. (rashness) 863; road to ruin, faciles descensus Averni [Lat.] [Vergil], hairbreadth escape.    cause for alarm; source of danger etc. 667.    rock ahead [Approach of danger], breakers ahead; storm brewing; clouds in the horizon, clouds gathering; warning etc. 668; alarm etc. 669.    [Sense of danger] apprehension etc. 860.    ... show more