Meanings
present singular third person stupefies · participle present stupefying · participle past stupefied · past stupefied · alternative stupify
- broadlyfigurativelytransitiveTo astonish or stun, especially as a result of some distressing action.
The police's negligence and callousness continued to stupefy her.
2 more examples
What if I love you!—This misery / Of your dissatisfaction and misprision / Stupefies me.
1917, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “A Bad Beginning”, in Look! We Have Come Through!, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 77He also believed that idealism of any kind was a more or less disguised form of religion, which was invariably used by exploiters to delude and stupefy the masses.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 458 - obsoletetransitiveTo deprive a material of the ability to undergo change or movement, especially deformation.
The next is, when it is not malleable, but yet it is not fluent, but stupified^([sic]).
1631, Francis [Bacon], “IX. Century. [Articles of Enquiry.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 226
Synonyms & antonyms
verbmake dull or stupid or muddle with drunkenness or infatuation
verbbe a mystery or bewildering to
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinstupefaciō“strike dumb, stun with amazement, stupefy”
- Middle Frenchstupéfier
- Englishstupefy
From Middle French stupéfier, from Latin stupefaciō (“strike dumb, stun with amazement, stupefy”), from stupeō (“to be stunned, speechless”) (see English stupid, stupor) + faciō (“to do, make”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian притъпявам, зашеметявам
- притъпявам (prităpjavam)dull the senses or capacity to think
- зашеметявам (zašemetjavam)dull the senses or capacity to think
Catalan sorprendre
- sorprendredull the senses or capacity to think
Chinese Mandarin 使驚奇 /使惊奇, 使驚訝 /使惊讶
- 使驚奇 /使惊奇 (shǐ jīngqí)dull the senses or capacity to think
- 使驚訝 /使惊讶 (shǐ jīngyà)dull the senses or capacity to think
Dutch verdoven, verdwazen
- verdovendull the senses or capacity to think
- verdwazendull the senses or capacity to think
Finnish turruttaa, tylsistää
- turruttaadull the senses or capacity to think
- tylsistäädull the senses or capacity to think
French stupéfier, abrutir
- stupéfierdull the senses or capacity to think
- abrutirdull the senses or capacity to think
- hébéterdull the senses or capacity to think
- sidérerdull the senses or capacity to think
- abasourdirdull the senses or capacity to think
- ahurirdull the senses or capacity to think
- estomaquerdull the senses or capacity to think
German betäuben
- betäubendull the senses or capacity to think
Hungarian megdöbbent
- megdöbbentdull the senses or capacity to think
Italian stupefare, abbrutire
- stupefaredull the senses or capacity to think
- abbrutiredull the senses or capacity to think
- sbalordiredull the senses or capacity to think
- confonderedull the senses or capacity to think
- ingarbugliaredull the senses or capacity to think
- annebbiaredull the senses or capacity to think
- istupidiredull the senses or capacity to think
Japanese 呆然とさせる
- 呆然とさせる (bōzen to saseru)dull the senses or capacity to think
Latin stupefaciō
- stupefaciōdull the senses or capacity to think
Māori whakahinamoe
- whakahinamoedull the senses or capacity to think
Norwegian Bokmål bedøve, sløve
- bedøvedull the senses or capacity to think
- sløvedull the senses or capacity to think
Polish ogłuszać, ogłuszyć
- ogłuszaćdull the senses or capacity to think
- ogłuszyćdull the senses or capacity to think
Portuguese entorpecer, estupeficar
- entorpecerdull the senses or capacity to think
- estupeficardull the senses or capacity to think
Russian изумля́ть, изуми́ть
- изумля́ть (izumljátʹ)dull the senses or capacity to think
- изуми́ть (izumítʹ)dull the senses or capacity to think
- поража́ть (poražátʹ)dull the senses or capacity to think
- порази́ть (porazítʹ)dull the senses or capacity to think
- ошеломля́ть (ošelomljátʹ)dull the senses or capacity to think
- ошеломи́ть (ošelomítʹ)dull the senses or capacity to think
- приводи́ть в изумле́ние (privodítʹ v izumlénije)dull the senses or capacity to think
- привести́ в изумле́ние (privestí v izumlénije)dull the senses or capacity to think
Spanish entorpecer, dejar estupefacto
- entorpecerdull the senses or capacity to think
- dejar estupefactodull the senses or capacity to think
- atontardull the senses or capacity to think
Turkish afallatmak, sersemletmek
- afallatmakdull the senses or capacity to think
- sersemletmekdull the senses or capacity to think
- şaşırtmakdull the senses or capacity to think
- şoke etmekdull the senses or capacity to think
- uyuşturmakdull the senses or capacity to think
Cite this entry
stupefy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stupefy
“stupefy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stupefy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stupefy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stupefy.
Source: stupefy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.