Meanings
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1
verb
dated: to astonish or bewilder someone completely
The unexpected inheritance dumbfoundered the entire family.
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2
noun
rare: a person or thing that causes complete astonishment
The final revelation was a dumbfounder that left the audience silent.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Word family
Etymology
The verb is an alteration of dumbfound, a blend of dumb and confound; the rare noun is dumbfound + the agent suffix -er. Dickens's dumbfoundered is the regular past participle of this longer verb.