Speechless
//ˈspiːt͡ʃ.lɪs// adj
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Not speaking; not knowing what to say; silent, especially due to surprise, amazement, etc.; wordless. not-comparable
"When he walked into his surprise birthday party, he was completely speechless."
- 2 Synonym of unspeakable. archaic, not-comparable
"Immortal Pleaſures round my ſwimming Eyes did dance, And ſpeechleſs Joys, in whoſe ſweet Tumult toſt, I thought my Breath, and my new Being loſt."
Adjective
- 1 temporarily incapable of speaking wordnet
Example
More examples"I'm appalled. You leave me speechless."
Etymology
From Middle English specheles, from Old English sprǣċlēas (“speechless; without the power of speak”), from Proto-Germanic *sprēkalausaz, equivalent to speech + -less. Cognate with West Frisian sprakeleas (“speechless”), Dutch sprakeloos (“speechless”), German Low German spraaklos (“speechless”), German sprachlos (“speechless”).
More for "speechless"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.