Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Affected with sudden astonishment or amazement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Struck, blasted, or injured by lightning.
- Astonished; amazed; struck dumb by some surprising or terrible thing suddenly presented to the mind or view.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Astonished ,amazed or so suddenlysurprised as to beunable tospeak .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Given the book's meteorological theme, "thunderstruck" is probably the best fit.
Archive 2008-03-01 2008
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As the left field screen proclaimed during the top of the 9th inning, the Rangers were "thunderstruck".
Archive 2008-03-01 2008
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If the word "thunderstruck" did justice in any degree to the state of mind which we wish to describe we would gladly use it, but it does not.
The Middy and the Moors An Algerine Story Arthur Twidle 1859
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Fallis, reached on the phone after the winning book was declared, said he was "thunderstruck" at the decision.
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A fellow blogger reports that he was "thunderstruck" by the recent comments of another blogger who commented on the …
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A fellow blogger reports that he was "thunderstruck" by the recent comments of another blogger who commented on the …
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A fellow blogger reports that he was "thunderstruck" by the recent comments of another blogger who commented on the …
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A fellow blogger reports that he was "thunderstruck" by the recent comments of another blogger who commented on the …
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A fellow blogger reports that he was "thunderstruck" by the recent comments of another blogger who commented on the …
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A fellow blogger reports that he was "thunderstruck" by the recent comments of another blogger who commented on the …
slumry commented on the word thunderstruck
shouldn't it be lightningstruck?
June 26, 2007
uselessness commented on the word thunderstruck
At first I thought so too, but actually this makes sense because the word means startled, and loud thunder is awfully startling when it "strikes" you. When lightning strikes you, you're probably more likely to be dead than surprised. ;-)
June 27, 2007
slumry commented on the word thunderstruck
It was a joke, just pointing out the literal denotation, as opposed to the figurative meaning. See also dumbstruck.
June 27, 2007