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shell-shocked

American

[shel-shahkt] / ˈʃɛlˌʃɑkt /

adjective

Archaic. suffering from battle fatigue or other post-traumatic stress disorder from war.

shell-shocked British

adjective

suffering from shell shock
in a state of stunned confusion or shock; dazed

"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

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.

Dubois winked to his corner but looked shell-shocked.

From BBC • May 9, 2026

That's compounded by concerns about Andrew's well-being, a man who looked shell-shocked and haunted in photos taken after he was released from custody.

From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026

Residents who had evacuated, and some who had stayed behind, stood shell-shocked, knowing there was little they could do to stop their neighborhood from burning to the ground.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 7, 2026

“People are shell-shocked right now,” Chris Diodato, a financial planner focusing on early retirement and founder of Wellth Financial Planning, told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 3, 2025

I’m so shell-shocked that no words are coming to me.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023