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View synonyms for stun

stun

[ stuhn ]

verb (used with object)

, stunned, stun·ning.
  1. to deprive of consciousness or strength by or as if by a blow, fall, etc.:

    The blow to his jaw stunned him for a moment.

  2. Her wit stunned the audience.

  3. The world was stunned by the attempted assassination.

  4. to daze or bewilder by noise.

    Synonyms: stupefy



verb (used without object)

  1. to cause astonishment or amazement:

    She stunned in a black and silver beaded gown, accessorized with a sparkly clutch.

noun

  1. the act of stunning.
  2. the condition of being stunned.

stun

/ stʌn /

verb

  1. to render unconscious, as by a heavy blow or fall
  2. to shock or overwhelm
  3. to surprise or astound


noun

  1. the state or effect of being stunned

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Word History and Origins

Origin of stun1

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English stonen, stunen (verb), from Old French estoner “to shake, make resound”; astonish

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Word History and Origins

Origin of stun1

C13 stunen, from Old French estoner to daze, stupefy, from Vulgar Latin extonāre (unattested), from Latin ex- 1+ tonāre to thunder

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Synonym Study

See shock 1.

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Example Sentences

The authorities were trying to arrest another man suspected of throwing a stun grenade when Hamdan attacked.

Even show ponies are not exempt from ending up in a narrowing chute that feeds the condemned in single file into the “stun box.”

Last month he stepped on a police stun grenade as it blew up, shredding his clothes and fracturing ribs.

Stun grenades exploded on the edges making a sound like a building being detonated.

Riot police used stun grenades and batons to violently beat them back.

He tole me I was to have all the money Miss Dory had been layin' up, an' he would send me mo' for the stun.

There had come to him an introductory statement; it was a smashing thing—a thing that would arrest and stun!

It was impossible to align the sights of his stun gun with any of those flitting shadows, Raf discovered.

Once more the party was alert, ready for trouble, and taking his cue from them, he kept his stun gun in his hand.

The stun ray, which had acted upon living creatures, could not govern the delicate mechanism in the hound's interior.

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