MEANING
To astonish someone so much that they struggle to speak or respond.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- dumbfound an audience
- utterly dumbfounded
On the page
The final figure dumbfounded the accountant who had prepared the estimate.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- dumbfound
- Past tense
- dumbfounded
- Past participle
- dumbfounded
- Present participle
- dumbfounding
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- dumbfound
- Present continuous
- am/is/are dumbfounding
- Present perfect
- have/has dumbfounded
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been dumbfounding
- Past
- dumbfounded
- Past continuous
- was/were dumbfounding
- Past perfect
- had dumbfounded
- Past perfect continuous
- had been dumbfounding
- Future
- will dumbfound
- Future continuous
- will be dumbfounding
- Future perfect
- will have dumbfounded
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been dumbfounding
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: dumbfound; dumbfounds; dumbfounded; dumbfounded; dumbfounding Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: dumbfounds.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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