stuck

American  

[stuhk] / stʌk /

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of stick.

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idioms

1. stuck on, infatuated with.

   He met her only once and is already stuck on her.

stuck British  

/ stʌk /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of stick 2

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adjective

1. informal baffled or nonplussed

2. slang (foll by on) keen (on) or infatuated (with)

3. informal

   1. to perform (a task) with determination

   2. to attack (a person) verbally or physically

Other Word Forms

• self-stuck
  adjective

Explanation

Stuck describes something that's frozen or fixed in one place and can't be moved. If your foot gets stuck in the mud, it means you can't get your foot out of its messy trap. The lid of a jar can be stuck, and your car can get stuck in traffic; either way, the thing that's stuck isn't going anywhere. You can also use stuck when you can't figure out what to do: you can be stuck on an especially hard math problem or feel stuck in a complicated relationship. The verb stick comes from the Old English stician, pierce or remain fastened.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stuck

“I just feel like I’m stuck in a shut-down state, unable to move,” Ma said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Lewis Koumas: Making his first Premier League start and the 21-year-old got stuck in from the outset in an energetic display that was loved by the Anfield crowd.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

Ireland recommended hiking some of the levies but stuck more or less to the commission's original lines, saying the measures it was putting forward would raise 55 billion euros a year.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026

But what if you happen to be partnered with the person making the sound, stuck in a room with him for hours on end like your very livelihood depends on it?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

I wouldn’t have been more surprised if I had stuck my finger in the firebox of Mama’s cook stove.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls