STUNNING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does stunning mean? 

• STUNNING (adjective)
  The adjective STUNNING has 4 senses:

1. commanding attention

2. causing great astonishment and consternation

3. causing or capable of causing bewilderment or shock or insensibility

4. strikingly beautiful or attractive

  Familiarity information: STUNNING used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STUNNING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Commanding attention

Synonyms:

arresting; sensational; stunning

Context example:

a stunning performance

Similar:

impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Causing great astonishment and consternation

Context example:

a stunning defeat

Similar:

surprising (causing surprise or wonder or amazement)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Causing or capable of causing bewilderment or shock or insensibility

Context example:

a stunning detonation with volumes of black smoke

Similar:

disorienting (causing loss of physical or intellectual bearings)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Strikingly beautiful or attractive

Context example:

stunning photographs of Canada's wilderness areas

Similar:

beautiful (delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration)

 Context examples 

The survey exceeded all expectations and imaged the depression in stunning detail: a distinctly circular rim, central uplift, disturbed and undisturbed ice layering, and basal debris.

(Unexpected Discovery Under Greenland Ice, NASA)

The stunning new images of the star’s surface show not only the fading red supergiant but also how its apparent shape is changing.

(ESO Telescope Sees Surface of Dim Betelgeuse, ESO)

"A stunning blow from the big Greek lexicon, which an old fellow in a black gown fired at him," said Ned.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

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 clarity in this trend is stunning, but we don’t yet know whether the new reefs can support the incredible diversity of tropical systems."

(Coral reefs shifting away from equatorial waters, National Science Foundation)

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)

It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, right between the shoulders in the middle of his back.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

On this day, Mars and Uranus will cook up some stunning surprises, for Mars will be trine Uranus, the most harmonious aspect possible between two planets.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I was struck a crushing, stunning blow, nowhere in particular and yet everywhere.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

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)