shell shock
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Origin of shell shock
First recorded in 1915–20
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for shell-shocked
Contemporary Examples
“God, please cure the regime,” says a shell-shocked Syrian woman.
When the towers fell, I was shell-shocked, struggling to find words.
The story of my life: when I lose, people are shell-shocked to see me play this way.
The entire nation is mourning the news, shell-shocked by images of wailing children fleeing the schools single file.
This is not the first election cycle in which Republicans have been shell-shocked by reality.
Historical Examples
Horror has shell-shocked every one, civilians as well as fighting-men.
The Kingdom Round the CornerConingsby Dawson
Shell-shocked and buried; also gassed at second battle of Ypres.
A cousin who has been gassed and shell-shocked had come in to read to me.
Fanny Goes to WarPat Beauchamp
There you were shell-shocked, in the last months of the war.
The Sky Line of SpruceEdison Marshall
She was now sending it to a hospital for shell-shocked officers.
shell-shocked
- suffering from shell shock
- in a state of stunned confusion or shock; dazed
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shell shock
- loss of sight, memory, etc, resulting from psychological strain during prolonged engagement in warfareAlso called: combat neurosis
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
shell shock
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.