rudderless

English

Etymology

rudder +‎ -less

Adjective

rudderless (comparative more rudderless, superlative most rudderless)

1. Without a rudder.
2. Lacking guidance or direction.
   • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 23:

     Their deaths were sobering not merely because of the searingly unbearable wrench of losing those two wonderful people, but because it left me exposed as rudderless.

   • 2023 September 6, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Leaderless and rudderless”, in RAIL, number 991, page 3:

     As Christian Wolmar said in RAIL 990, our railway is "leaderless and rudderless", and drifting inexorably towards the rocks of total chaos.

Translations

without a rudder, unsteerable, without guidance

• Dutch: roekeloos (nl)
• German: orientierungslos (de), steuerlos, führungslos
• Norwegian: uten ror
• Spanish: desnortado (es)

See also

• even keel