stun
English · Thesaurus
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stun
- /stʌn/
- /stʊn/ Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌn
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English stonen, stone (“to astonish, stun, numb”, also stoneyen), probably either directly or indirectly from Anglo-Norman estoner (“to stun, astonish”), from Late Latin *stunāre, from Frankish *stunōn (“to thunder, crash”) or perhaps from an unattested Latin *extonāre (“to thunder out, make a thunderous sound”), from tonāre ("to thunder"; compare Latin attonāre). An alternative etymology derives stonen from Old English stunian (“to smash, thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *stunōn. See also astonish, astound.
Compare Swedish stöna (“to moan, groan”), Danish stønne (“to moan, groan”), Icelandic stynja (“to moan”), Occitan estonar (“to surprise”), and French étonner (“to surprise”), and more distantly, Dutch steunen (“to groan; support”), German stöhnen (“to groan, moan”), German staunen (“to be astonished, be amazed, marvel at”), and Russian стонать (stonatʹ), стена́ть (stenátʹ, “to moan, groan”).
verb stuns · stunning · stunned · stin
-
To incapacitate; especially by inducing disorientation or unconsciousness.
Bill tried to stun the snake by striking it on the head.
Similar: daze
- To shock or surprise. The celebrity was stunned to find herself confronted with unfounded allegations on the front page of a newspaper.
- To hit the cue ball so that it slides without topspin or backspin (and with or without sidespin) and continues at a natural angle after contact with the object ball
- To enter a stunned state. The monsters stun when you jump on them.
- To confiscate (an unguarded rifle, magazine, piece of equipment, etc.) from an unsuspecting soldier as punishment for neglect.
noun stuns · stin
- The condition of being stunned.
- That which stuns; a shock; a stupefying blow.
- A person who lacks intelligence.
- The effect on the cue ball where the ball is hit without topspin, backspin or sidespin. Williams will need a lot of stun to avoid going in the middle pocket
- A low-range setting for an energy weapon that will stun its target but not injure or kill it. Captain James Kirk: "Set your phaser on one quarter. I'll leave mine on stun."
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: stupefy, stupify, bedaze, shock, take aback, daze, sandbag, floor, ball over, dumbfound, flabbergast, astound, crippling, confound, amaze, stagger
Translations
Every language
verb to incapacitate
| Español | anonadar, aturdir, pasmar, dejar “sin sentido”/atónito, adarvar, despampanar |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 気絶させる kizetsu saseru |
| 中文 | 把...打暈 /把...打晕 bǎ ... dǎyūn |
| Português | atordoar, aturdir |
| Français | étourdir |
| Deutsch | betäuben |
| Italiano | stordire, intontire |
| Русский | оглуша́ть oglušátʹ, оглуши́ть oglušítʹ |
verb to shock or surprise
| Español | anonadar, aturdir, pasmar, dejar “sin sentido”/atónito, adarvar, despampanar |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 呆然とさせる bōzen to saseru |
| 中文 | 使震驚 /使震惊 shǐ zhènjīng |
| Português | assombrar, aturdir |
| Français | étourdir, étonner, époustoufler |
| Deutsch | verblüffen |
| Italiano | stupefare, sorprendere, incantare |
| Русский | ошеломля́ть ošelomljátʹ, ошеломи́ть ošelomítʹ, потряса́ть potrjasátʹ, потрясти́ potrjastí |
noun the condition of being stunned
| Русский | ошеломле́ние ošelomlénije |
|---|
Talk about this word "stun." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/stun. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. stun. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/stun "stun." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/stun.Cite this
@misc{stun_2026,
title = {stun},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/stun},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
