smitten means affected by an act of smiting. It carries an Arena rating of 1805, earned across 23 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, smitten ranks #182 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #706 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,015 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,198 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
smitten is pronounced /ˈsmɪ.tn̩/.
Why “smitten” is a great word
Deeply affected by, or enamored with, someone or something, often suddenly and overwhelmingly. Its roots lie in the Old English *smītan*, meaning to hit or strike, a blunt force that survives in its modern meaning of being struck by a profound attraction, first attested in this amorous sense in the 1660s. Unlike "infatuated" (which suggests a foolish, fleeting fancy) or "fond" (which describes a gentle, steady liking), to be smitten is to be captured, a target found. It is the breathless silence after a first glimpse, the world narrowing to a single laugh in a crowded room, the irrational certainty that arrives not as a thought but as a blow—the heart’s quiet surrender to a wound that feels, for a time, like a cure.
Etymology
From Middle English smiten, from Old English smiten, ġesmiten, from Proto-Germanic *smitanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *smītaną (“to hurl; fling”), equivalent to smite + -en (past participle ending).
adj
- Affected by an act of smiting.e.g.“[A] smited man is a man struck; a smitten man is a man affected by the act of smiting: […]” — 1850, Matthew Stewart, Remarks on the Subject of Language, with Some Observations in the Form of Notes, Illustrative of the Information which Language may Afford of the History and Opinions of Mankind
- Affected by an act of smiting.; Made irrationally enthusiastic.
- Affected by an act of smiting.; In love.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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