speechless C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings US /ˈspitʃləs/ UK /ˈspiːtʃləs/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj unable to speak, especially through shock or strong emotion The surprise party left her completely speechless. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · unable to speak, especially... mutedumbstruckwordlesssilenttongue-tieddumbfounded ↔ Opposites articulatetalkativevoluble Word family Forms speechlessly Derived forms speechlesslyspeechlessness Related forms speechspeak Etymology AI details From Old English sprǣclēas, from sprǣc/spēc ('speech') + -lēas ('-less, without'). sprǣc Old English lēas Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Emotions & Feelings Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # speechless **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈspitʃləs/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈspiːtʃləs/ ## Meanings 1. unable to speak, especially through shock or strong emotion ## Examples - The surprise party left her completely speechless. ## Synonyms - mute - dumbstruck - wordless - silent - tongue-tied - dumbfounded ## Antonyms - articulate - talkative - voluble ## Derived Forms - speechlessly - speechlessness ## Related Forms - speech - speak ## Roots and Affixes - Root: sprǣc - Root: lēas ## Etymology From Old English sprǣclēas, from sprǣc/spēc ('speech') + -lēas ('-less, without'). ## AI Etymology Speechless comes from Old English sprǣclēas, from sprǣc/spēc ('speech') + -lēas ('-less, without'). The historical chain includes Old English sprǣc and Old English lēas. The quoted older senses, "speech" and "-less, without", supply the semantic anchors for speechless. The formation is best read as suffixal and borrowed: the word speechless carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "unable to speak, especially through shock or strong emotion". English derivatives include speechlessly and speechlessness; related English forms include speech and speak. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization. ## Topics - Emotions & Feelings - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown