We explain what it means to be stunned, the origin of the term, its different meanings and examples in sentences.
What is it to be stunned?
The word annihilated has, in general terms, two very different meanings:
- Annihilate means to reduce something to nothingthat is, to abate, abase, and figuratively, defeat or humiliate.
- Stunned It is also used as a synonym for surprisedoverwhelmed, bewildered or overwhelmed.
Both meanings are valid in Spanish, although the second is much more common than the first.
The word anonadar comes from the union in Romance languages of the words No and nothingto describe something insignificant, a “nothing”, together with the prefix a- (from Latin ad-which means “towards”). Thus, annihilate would mean “push toward nothingness” or “reduce to nothing,” which is where the original meaning of annihilated comes from: timid, reduced, diminished.
This sense allows two figurative or metaphorical uses: to be daunted because circumstances diminished us, either because someone subjected us or because we are very overwhelmed, very impacted by something.
Hence, today we use this word as more or less synonymous with surprised: a stunned person is shocked, impressed, and He doesn't really know how to react to something.without necessarily being something bad or something good. For example:
- The news of Braulio's death left me stunned.
- At the end of the debate, the opposition politician was stunned.
- The complexity of the problem has us all stunned.
- Don't let yourself annihilate for the negative comments.
Continue with: Overwhelm
References
- “Anonadar” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Etymology of Anonadar” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “Amazing” in Wordreference.
