STUN (stunned, stunning)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: stunned    , stunning   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stun mean? 

• STUN (verb)
  The verb STUN has 3 senses:

1. make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow

2. hit something or somebody as if with a sandbag

3. overcome as with astonishment or disbelief

  Familiarity information: STUN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STUN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they stun    ... he / she / it stuns   
Past simple: stunned   
Past participle: stunned   
-ing form: stunning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

stun; stupefy

Context example:

stun fish

Hypernyms (to "stun" is one way to...):

immobilise; immobilize (cause to be unable to move)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hit something or somebody as if with a sandbag

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

sandbag; stun

Hypernyms (to "stun" is one way to...):

hit (deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to stun his opponent

Sense 3

Meaning:

Overcome as with astonishment or disbelief

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

bedaze; daze; stun

Context example:

The news stunned her

Hypernyms (to "stun" is one way to...):

desensitise; desensitize (cause not to be sensitive)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

stunner (a very attractive or seductive looking woman)

 Context examples 

I was so stunned by this sudden shock that for a time I must have nearly lost my reason.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Maria was too stunned for speech.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I was like a man stunned.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Astronomers are using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study auroras — stunning light shows in a planet’s atmosphere — on the poles of the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter.

(Hubble Captures Vivid Auroras in Jupiter’s Atmosphere, NASA)

The layered geologic past of Mars is revealed in stunning detail in new color images returned by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, which is currently exploring the Murray Buttes region of lower Mount Sharp.

(Mars Rover Views Spectacular Layered Rock Formations, NASA)

In an instant I was stunned with a blow and bound hand and foot.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The stunning new image shows the shadow of the supermassive black hole in the center of Messier 87 (M87), an elliptical galaxy some 55 million light-years from Earth.

(Black Hole Image Makes History, NASA)

I believed my eyes without question, and yet I was for the moment stunned by what they disclosed to me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Among the first observations to come out of their campaign is a stunning new image of Betelgeuse’s surface, taken late last year with the SPHERE instrument.

(ESO Telescope Sees Surface of Dim Betelgeuse, ESO)

Octopuses have amazed scientists for centuries —these underwater creatures can open jars, recognize faces and now a stunning video has suggested that they have dreams.

(Octopuses can dream, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)