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Webster 1828 Edition

Noun.

Want of strength or ability; inability; want of means in one's self to obtain relief in trouble, or to accomplish one's purposes or desires.

It is the tendency of sickness to reduce our extravagant self-estimation, by exhibiting our solitary helplessness.

helplessness ‎(usually uncountable, plural helplessnesses)

The state of being helpless.
A feeling of inadequacy or impotence.
- 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
  Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

state of being helpless

feeling of inadequacy or impotence

“helplessness” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
helplessness in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
“impotence” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.