thunderstruck
/ˈθʌn.də.stɹʌk/
thunderstruck means astonished, amazed or so suddenly surprised as to be unable to speak. It carries an Arena rating of 1870, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, thunderstruck ranks #514 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #727 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #839 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,378 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
thunderstruck is pronounced /ˈθʌn.də.stɹʌk/.
Why “thunderstruck” is a great word
A state of being so suddenly astonished or amazed as to be rendered speechless. From the English words 'thunder' and 'struck' (past participle of 'strike'), literally meaning 'struck by thunder,' first recorded 1605–15. Unlike 'flabbergasted,' which implies a more comical, sputtering bewilderment, or 'astounded,' which suggests profound wonder, 'thunderstruck' carries the specific, paralyzing violence of a literal bolt from the blue. It is the frozen figure in the road as the lightning forks overhead, the silent, gaping mouth after the pronouncement of irrevocable news, the astronomer who lowers her telescope and forgets, for a full minute, how to breathe—the body continuing its mechanical functions while the self evacuates, struck empty by voltage from an indifferent sky.
Etymology
From thunder + struck. Compare synonymous and cognate Latin attonitus. Also compare typologically Ancient Greek ἐμβρόντητος (embróntētos) (< βροντή (brontḗ)) (whence Greek εμβρόντητος (emvróntitos)); Czech ohromený (< ohromit), Bulgarian като ударен от гръм (kato udaren ot grǎm), Russian как гро́мом поражённый (kak grómom poražónnyj) (akin to гром (grom)). See also German wie vom Donner gerührt.
adj
- Astonished, amazed or so suddenly surprised as to be unable to speak.e.g.“The overthrown he rais’d, and as a Heard
Of Goats or timerous flock together throngd
Drove them before him Thunder-struck,” — 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished a
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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