shaken
adj.adj. feeling very shocked, upset, or nervous after a bad experience. You use this when something has disturbed your peace of mind.
adj. disturbed or emotionally unsettled by a sudden shock or unpleasant experience. Often follows a linking verb like 'be' or 'feel'.
She was visibly shaken after the car accident.
The witness was so shaken by the events that she struggled to answer the lawyer's questions clearly.
Even the most experienced emergency responders were left shaken by the scale of the disaster, requiring several days of debriefing to process what they had witnessed.
The verb is derived from Middle English (i)shaken, from (i- (prefix forming past participle forms of verbs)) + shaken (“to tremble, shake; etc.”) + -en (suffix forming past participle forms of verbs). The adjective is derived from the verb. By surface analysis, shake (verb) + -n (a variant of -en (suffix forming past participle forms of verbs; and adjectives)).
Borrowed from Japanese 車剣 (しゃけん, shaken), from 車 (しゃ, sha, “vehicle; wheel”) + 剣 (けん, ken, “sword”).
Often functions as a predicative adjective following verbs like 'seem', 'look', or 'remain'.