Word.ws English Dictionary

learned helplessness

US/ˈlɝnd ˈhɛlplɪsnɪs/

learned helplessness noun: a psychological state arising after an individual is repeatedly exposed to uncontrollable negative events, leading them to perceive their actions as ineffective in altering their adverse circumstances.

Noun

learned helplessness (uncountable)

  1. A psychological state arising after an individual is repeatedly exposed to uncontrollable negative events, leading them to perceive their actions as ineffective in altering their adverse circumstances.
    • Have you ever tried fixing a bad situation—fighting to revive a stale marriage or escape a toxic job—only to hit roadblocks at every turn? Eventually, you become numb to the situation and simply give up. This is learned helplessness: internalizing that you don’t have control in difficult scenarios....2025 March 24, Sofia Lodato, quoting Olivia Verhulst, “Have You Given Up Trying? This Is Why, According to a Therapist”, in Oprah Daily

learned helplessness meaning in Arabic

learned helplessness in Arabic

Translations
عَجْز مُتَعَلِّم ʕajz mutaʕallim, عَجْز مُكْتَسَب ʕajz muktasab

Origin of learned helplessness

From psychological research in the 1960s; details are at Wikipedia.

Questions about learned helplessness

What does learned helplessness mean?
Learned helplessness means a psychological state arising after an individual is repeatedly exposed to uncontrollable negative events, leading them to perceive their actions as ineffective in altering their adverse circumstances.
What is learned helplessness in Arabic?
Learned helplessness in Arabic is عَجْز مُتَعَلِّم (ʕajz mutaʕallim), عَجْز مُكْتَسَب (ʕajz muktasab). See Learned helplessness meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is learned helplessness?
Learned helplessness is a noun.
How do you pronounce learned helplessness?
Learned helplessness is pronounced /ˈlɝnd ˈhɛlplɪsnɪs/ (US).

Words near learned helplessness in the dictionary

  1. learned
  2. learned borrowing
  3. learned borrowings
  4. learned Chinese
  5. learned from experience
  6. learned helplessness
  7. learned loan
  8. learned loans
  9. learned loanword
  10. learned loanwords
  11. learned member

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: learned helplessness (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “learned helplessness.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/learned_helplessness. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.