stun
v.v. to surprise or shock someone so much that they can't think or move for a short time. It can be from something you see, hear, or learn.
v. to make someone temporarily unconscious or unable to react, either through a physical blow or profound emotional shock. It implies a momentary loss of faculties.
The news of her promotion stuns her.
The magician's final trick was so incredible that it stunned the entire audience into silence.
The sheer audacity of the proposal stunned the board members, leaving them momentarily speechless as they tried to process its implications.
Inherited from Middle English stonen, stone (“to astonish, stun, numb”, also stoneyen), probably either directly or indirectly from Anglo-Norman estoner (“to stun, astonish”), from Late Latin stunāre, from Frankish stunōn (“to thunder, crash”) or perhaps from an unattested Latin extonāre (“to thunder out, make a thunderous sound”), from tonāre ("to thunder"; compare Latin attonāre). An alternative etymology derives stonen from Old English stunian (“to smash, thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic stunōn. See also astonish, astound. Compare Swedish stöna (“to moan, groan”), Danish stønne (“to moan, groan”), Icelandic stynja (“to moan”), Occitan estonar (“to surprise”), and French étonner (“to surprise”), and more distantly, Dutch steunen (“to groan; support”), German stöhnen (“to groan, moan”), German staunen (“to be astonished, be amazed, marvel at”), and Russian стонать (stonatʹ), стена́ть (stenátʹ, “to moan, groan”).
The verb is transitive and always takes a direct object.
I was stunning when I heard the news.I was stunned when I heard the news.Learners may confuse the adjective 'stunned' (feeling shocked) with 'stunning' (very beautiful or impressive).