Meanings
present singular third person stuns · participle present stunning · participle past stunned · past stunned · alternative Devon stin
- transitiveTo incapacitate; especially by inducing disorientation or unconsciousness.
Bill tried to stun the snake by striking it on the head.
1 more example
In many European countries cattle have to be stunned before slaughtering.
Synonyms: daze
- ball gamesTo 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
- intransitivevideo gamesTo enter a stunned state.
The monsters stun when you jump on them.
- SingaporeslanggovernmentTo confiscate (an unguarded rifle, magazine, piece of equipment, etc.) from an unsuspecting soldier as punishment for neglect.
plural stuns · alternative Devon stin
- countableuncountableThe condition of being stunned.
- countableuncountableThat which stuns; a shock; a stupefying blow.
- NewfoundlandcountableuncountableA person who lacks intelligence.
- countableuncountableball gamesThe 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
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo incapacitate; especially by inducing disorientation or unconsciousness.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*stunōn
- Old Englishstunian“to smash, thunder”
- Frankish*stunōn“to thunder, crash”
- Late Latin*stunāre
- Anglo-Normanestoner“to stun, astonish”
- Middle Englishstonen
- Englishstun
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”).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian зашеметявам, зашеметя
- зашеметявам (zašemetjavam)to incapacitate
- зашеметя (zašemetja)to incapacitate
- шокирам (šokiram)to shock or surprise
- зашеметяване (zašemetjavane)the condition of being stunned
- безсъзнание (bezsăznanie)the condition of being stunned
- шок (šok)That which stuns
- зашеметяващ удар (zašemetjavašt udar)That which stuns
Catalan atordir, entebenar
- atordirto incapacitate
- entebenarto incapacitate
Chinese Mandarin 把...打暈 /把...打晕, 使震驚 /使震惊
- 把...打暈 /把...打晕 (bǎ ... dǎyūn)to incapacitate
- 使震驚 /使震惊 (shǐ zhènjīng)to shock or surprise
Czech omráčit, ochromit
- omráčitto incapacitate
- ochromitto incapacitate
- zaskočitto shock or surprise
Dutch verdoven, verbluffen
- verdovento incapacitate
- verbluffento shock or surprise
Esperanto svenbati
- svenbatito incapacitate
Finnish tyrmätä, tainnuttaa
- tyrmätäto incapacitate
- tainnuttaato incapacitate
- ällistyttääto shock or surprise
French étourdir, étourdir
- étourdirto incapacitate
- étourdirto shock or surprise
- étonnerto shock or surprise
- époustouflerto shock or surprise
German betäuben, verblüffen
- betäubento incapacitate
- verblüffento shock or surprise
Italian stordire, intontire
- stordireto incapacitate
- intontireto incapacitate
- stupefareto shock or surprise
- sorprendereto shock or surprise
- incantareto shock or surprise
Japanese 気絶させる, 呆然とさせる
- 気絶させる (kizetsu saseru)to incapacitate
- 呆然とさせる (bōzen to saseru)to shock or surprise
Latin stupefaciō, stupefaciō
- stupefaciōto incapacitate
- stupefaciōto shock or surprise
- attonōto shock or surprise
Norwegian svimeslå, lamslå
- svimeslåto incapacitate
- lamslåto incapacitate
- lammeto incapacitate
Portuguese atordoar, aturdir
- atordoarto incapacitate
- aturdirto incapacitate
- assombrarto shock or surprise
- aturdirto shock or surprise
Russian оглуша́ть, оглуши́ть
- оглуша́ть (oglušátʹ)to incapacitate
- оглуши́ть (oglušítʹ)to incapacitate
- ошеломля́ть (ošelomljátʹ)to shock or surprise
- ошеломи́ть (ošelomítʹ)to shock or surprise
- потряса́ть (potrjasátʹ)to shock or surprise
- потрясти́ (potrjastí)to shock or surprise
- ошеломле́ние (ošelomlénije)the condition of being stunned
Slovak omráčiť, zaraziť
- omráčiťto incapacitate
- zaraziťto shock or surprise
- zaskočiťto shock or surprise
Spanish anonadar, aturdir
- anonadarto incapacitate
- aturdirto incapacitate
- pasmarto incapacitate
- dejar “sin sentido”/atónitoto incapacitate
- adarvarto incapacitate
- despampanarto incapacitate
- atonarto incapacitate
- deslembarto incapacitate
- eslembarto incapacitate
- atronarto incapacitate
- anonadarto shock or surprise
- aturdirto shock or surprise
Swedish bedöva, förstumma
- bedövato incapacitate
- förstummato shock or surprise
- chockerato shock or surprise
- överraskato shock or surprise
Ukrainian приголо́мшувати, приголо́мшити
- приголо́мшувати (pryholómšuvaty)to incapacitate
- приголо́мшити (pryholómšyty)to incapacitate
- приголо́мшувати (pryholómšuvaty)to shock or surprise
- приголо́мшити (pryholómšyty)to shock or surprise
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with stun
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
stun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stun
“stun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stun. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stun,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stun.
Source: stun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.