dumbfound
Americanverb (used with object)
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dumbfounds,
present (3rd person singular)
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dumbfounded,
past participle, past
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dumbfounding
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dumbfoundsimple
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dumbfoundssimple
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have dumbfoundedperfect
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has dumbfoundedperfect
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am dumbfoundingprogressive
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are dumbfoundingprogressive
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is dumbfoundingprogressive
-
have been dumbfoundingperfect progressive
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has been dumbfoundingperfect progressive
Past
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dumbfoundedsimple
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had dumbfoundedperfect
-
was dumbfoundingprogressive
-
were dumbfoundingprogressive
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had been dumbfoundingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dumbfound
First recorded in 1645–55; dumb + (con)found
Explanation
The verb dumbfound means to puzzle, mystify, or amaze. If people never expected you to amount to much in high school, but you grew up to be a rocket scientist, you will surely dumbfound your former classmates at your next reunion. The word dumbfound is a combination of the words dumb and confound. Dumb, in the original sense, means unable to speak. Confound is from the Latin word confundere, which means to mix together as well as to confuse. Thus the blended word dumbfound has the sense of to confuse to the point of speechlessness. If you see a solar eclipse for the first time, it might dumbfound you.
Vocabulary lists containing dumbfound
In a Pickle: Words for When You're in Trouble
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The "Thwarted" Thesaurus: words about being frustrated at every turn
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Any other result but a four or five nil win for the Gunners would be catastrophic for Arsenal and dumbfound us all.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2024
It will defy assumption after assumption, dazzle and dumbfound, stun and stir, swerve and swerve back almost as if cackling.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 18, 2022
Lavelle’s ability to dumbfound defenses will be crucial to the U.S. team’s play for the next four years and beyond.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2019
Like a telepathic infant swinging for the piñata with deathly precision, Chelsea has continued to dumbfound with its ability to overcome seemingly impossible tasks.
From New York Times ● May 17, 2012
He can show such familiarity with the Inca’s affairs as to dumbfound the old boy.
From The Radio Boys' Search for the Inca's Treasure by Gerald Breckenridge
“There is such a misunderstanding of hemp, it just dumbfounds me,” explains Jon Hanson, an organic farmer in Marquette, who says he’d love to grow hemp on his 480-acre farm.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 12, 2016
He refuses to forgive 'the Countess' for her infidelity until the real Countess enters and dumbfounds him.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 14, 2012
"The idea of a puddin'-thief offering a man a present dumbfounds me, as the saying goes."
From The Magic Pudding Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and His Friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff by Norman Lindsay
"It dumbfounds me," said Linda, "to have Eileen do this for me."
From Her Father's Daughter by Gene Stratton-Porter
But when he opened his mouth and English lyrics started to spill out, he was completely dumbfounded.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Huckabee, however, appeared dumbfounded: “I’m totally unable to process what you’re trying to get at.”
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2026
American skater Nathan Chen, the Beijing men's individual gold medallist, was dumbfounded, saying: "What a shock".
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
“I’m kind of just dumbfounded why it’s going up so much,” said Chad Smith, 51, who with his wife owns a landscaping company in Coeur d’Alene.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
Both armies stared, dumbfounded, as the forty-foot-tall gold and ivory statue came in for a landing.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
When you’re born and raised in the United States, American nationalism and English-language centrism are so deeply ingrained into the culture that watching an actor work in another tongue is dumbfounding.
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2026
“The fact that these dumbfounding transfers in the middle of the night cause chaos, confusion, and minimizes access to legal representation does not seem to bother them one bit,” he said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025
That was in Carnoustie in 1999 and featured one of the most dumbfounding triple bogeys ever on the 72nd hole of a major.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 22, 2023
“Frankly, it’s dumbfounding to me to hear that this is still going on even after you have advocates like Michael,” Roberts said.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 17, 2022
Beneath her fingernails, the frost makes billions of tiny diadems and coronas on the slats of the bench, a lattice of dumbfounding complexity.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
