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dumbfound

dumbfounded; dumbfounding; dumbfounds

The verb dumbfound means to puzzle, mystify, or amaze. If people never expected you to amount to much in high school, but you grew up to be a rocket scientist, you will surely dumbfound your former classmates at your next reunion.

The word dumbfound is a combination of the words dumb and confound. Dumb, in the original sense, means unable to speak. Confound is from the Latin word confundere, which means to mix together as well as to confuse. Thus the blended word dumbfound has the sense of to confuse to the point of speechlessness. If you see a solar eclipse for the first time, it might dumbfound you.

Definitions of dumbfound
  1. verb
    be a mystery or bewildering to
    synonyms: amaze, baffle, beat, bewilder, flummox, get, gravel, mystify, nonplus, perplex, pose, puzzle, stick, stupefy, vex
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    types:
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    mix up, stump
    cause to be perplexed or confounded
    riddle
    set a difficult problem or riddle
    elude, escape
    be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by
    defy, refuse, resist
    elude, especially in a baffling way
    type of:
    bedevil, befuddle, confound, confuse, discombobulate, fox, fuddle, throw
    be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
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