Stunning

adj, noun, verb, slang

adj, noun, verb, slang ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act by which a person or animal is physically stunned.

    "He wished he had tens of thousands more troops under Andez's control so he could round up every one of these demonstrators. But it was futile to continue cracking down. The stunnings, beatings and arrests had only inflamed them further."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of stun form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    Having an effect that stuns.

    "The stunning jolt from the taser gun made the criminal stop fleeing."

  2. 2
    Exceptionally beautiful or attractive. informal

    "That woman is stunning!"

  3. 3
    Amazing; wonderfully good. informal

    "The film was stunning."

Adjective
  1. 1
    strikingly beautiful or attractive wordnet
  2. 2
    commanding attention wordnet
  3. 3
    causing or capable of causing bewilderment or shock or insensibility wordnet
  4. 4
    causing great astonishment and consternation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
beautifulsurprisingace-highamazinganalgesicanesthetic

Antonyms

All antonyms
deform

Example

More examples

"She is the type men call "stunning.""

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English stunnyng, stunnynge, stounyng, equivalent to stun + -ing.

Etymology 2

From Middle English stunnyng, stonyng (also stoniynge, stonyynge), equivalent to stun + -ing.

Related phrases

stunning and brave

More for "stunning"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.