---
title: defenceless — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «defenceless» in the school dictionary: Defenceless means having no protection, and unable to fight back or guard yourself. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# defenceless

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**Who acts:** Defenceless, baby bird, defenceless rabbit, It · **What happens:** mean, have, fight back, guard, be, hide · **To what, where:** protection, yourself, leaf, defenceless

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«defenceless» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [defenceless in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/defenceless.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Defenceless means having no protection, and unable to fight back or guard yourself.

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defenceless:m1:1
# text = Defenceless means having no protection, and unable to fight back or guard yourself.
1	Defenceless	defenceless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	back	back	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	guard	guard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
14	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Defenceless |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** *not said to happen* | gerund | Defenceless *not said here* | no protection |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent protection=Patient |
| 3 | **fight back** | to-infinitive | Defenceless *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **guard** | infinitive | Defenceless *not said here* | yourself |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yourself=Beneficiary |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A baby bird is defenceless without its mother.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defenceless:x1:1
# text = A baby bird is defenceless without its mother.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	defenceless	defenceless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	without	without	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a baby bird |  |  |  |  | without bird's mother; defenceless *property* | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The defenceless rabbit hid under a leaf.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defenceless:x2:1
# text = The defenceless rabbit hid under a leaf.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	defenceless	defenceless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	hid	hide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	under	under	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | past | the defenceless rabbit |  |  | a leaf |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under leaf=Location |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is cowardly to attack the defenceless.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defenceless:x3:1
# text = It is cowardly to attack the defenceless.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	cowardly	cowardly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	attack	attack	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	defenceless	defenceless	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | cowardly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **attack** | to-infinitive |  | the defenceless |  |  |  |  | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent defenceless=Patient |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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