Word of the Day – Dumbfounded

The meaning of dumbfounded is to surprise or amaze in an intriguing or powerful manner.

Sentences that includes the word ‘dumbfounded‘ could be:

• The lady was dumbfounded by the vast quantity of shoes that her friend possessed.
• The crowd was dumbfounded by what they saw.

In the above sentences, ‘dumbfounded‘ is the past participle of the verb ‘dumbfound’. Dumfounded could also be an adjective in its own right, as in the sentences below:

• David appeared absolutely dumbfounded when he was told the news.
• The people looked dumbfounded by the performance of the band.

The word ‘dumbfound‘ is a verb.

The word ‘dumbfounded‘ can be either an adjective or verb in its past participle form.

Note that an adjective modifies or adds context to a noun in some way, and a verb is a doing word.

Although the use of ‘dumbfounded’ in the above sentences is similar, the difference between the first set and second set of sentences is that the first set describes an action that has taken place (past participle of a verb), and the second set is where the word dumbfounded is used to add context to the noun i.e. the word used for the name of a person, group or object. The underlined words in the second set of sentences (David and people) are nouns.

Someone may be dumbfounded by something good. For example, the crowd could be dumbfounded by the number of lights and animations that they were seeing. Dumbfounded may also relate to something that has surprised or amazed someone but for a negative reason. For example, the crowd could be described as being dumbfounded by the lack of lighting, meaning that they could not see what they wanted to.

What is the Definition of ‘Dumbfounded‘?

The definition of ‘dumbfounded’ in the Cambridge Dictionary is: ‘extremely surprised‘

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