speechless

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈspitʃləs/ UK /ˈspiːtʃləs/ See IPA manual

adj

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

articulate talkative voluble

Word family

Forms speechlessly

Derived forms speechlesslyspeechlessness

Related forms speech speak

Etymology

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

# 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

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