STUPEFY (stupefied)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: stupefied   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stupefy mean? 

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

1. make dull or stupid or muddle with drunkenness or infatuation

2. be a mystery or bewildering to

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

  Familiarity information: STUPEFY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STUPEFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they stupefy    ... he / she / it stupefies   
Past simple: stupefied   
Past participle: stupefied   
-ing form: stupefying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make dull or stupid or muddle with drunkenness or infatuation

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

besot; stupefy

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

desensitise; desensitize (cause not to be sensitive)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

stupefaction (the action of stupefying; making dull or lethargic)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be a mystery or bewildering to

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

amaze; baffle; beat; bewilder; dumbfound; flummox; get; gravel; mystify; nonplus; perplex; pose; puzzle; stick; stupefy; vex

Context example:

This question really stuck me

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

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stupefy"):

mix up; stump (cause to be perplexed or confounded)

riddle (set a difficult problem or riddle)

elude; escape (be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will stupefy him
The good news will stupefy her

Derivation:

stupefaction (a feeling of stupefied astonishment)

Sense 3

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 "stupefy" 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

Derivation:

stupefaction (the action of stupefying; making dull or lethargic)

 Context examples 

As we did so there came from the inside a stupefying and overpowering smell of chloroform.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I believe I should have been almost stupefied but for one circumstance.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I shook him, but he only murmured and turned: the smoke had stupefied him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Good heaven! how very, very kind! Have you really—was it by your desire? I beg your pardon, but I am bewildered. Did Admiral Crawford apply? How was it? I am stupefied.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager.

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

She was an altered creature, quieted, stupefied, indifferent to everything that passed.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)