thunderstruck

thunder +‎ struck

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈθʌn.də.stɹʌk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈθʌn.dɚ.stɹʌk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

thunderstruck (comparative more thunderstruck, superlative most thunderstruck)

1. Astonished, amazed or so suddenly surprised as to be unable to speak.
   • 1916, G. K. Chesterton, chapter IX, in The Crimes of England:

     And for days Europe and the great powers were thunderstruck, again and yet again, by the news of Turkish forts falling, Turkish cohorts collapsing, the unconquerable Crescent going down in blood.

   • 1927-29 — Mohandas Gandhi, An Autobiography or The Story of my Experiments with Truth, Part V, The Fast, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai

     'Unless the strikers rally,' I declared to the meeting, 'and continue the strike till a settlement is reached, or till they leave the mills altogether, I will not touch any food.' The labourers were thunderstruck.

• (astonished): amazed, astonished, astounded, awed, overawed, overwhelmed, speechless, stupefied, surprised