STUMPED Synonyms: 61 Similar and Opposite Words

stumped

verb

past tense of stump

as in shuffled

to move heavily or clumsily the seemingly endless parade finally ended, and the drummers and tuba players stumped wearily to their buses

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in challenged

to invite (someone) to take part in a contest or to perform a feat when my grandfather was a kid, he and his friends would stump one another to dive into the local swimming hole

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of stumped The question stumped them, but only to some extent. — Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026 Tatis’ power outage at age 27 has stumped the baseball world. — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 June 2026 Still, managers might be stumped by a request to put on high school hoops or a sailing competition. — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 23 Mar. 2026 The next question, about picadillo, stumped the Oscar nominee. — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 23 Mar. 2026 Streep then did her impersonation of De Niro apparently stumped by a question. — Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 30 Apr. 2026 In an interview, Rabb easily answered the question that had stumped Stanford. — David Weigel, semafor.com, 18 May 2026 How many voters have diligently studied candidates and ballot initiatives prior to election day, only to be stumped by a sometimes excruciatingly long list of unfamiliar names of people trying to get or retain jobs as judges? — Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 30 Apr. 2026 The story opens in the 1960s, during a long communication gap, as a group of MIT graduate students sets out to solve a proof that stumped the greatest minds of the previous generation (including Albert Einstein). — Alexandra Oliva, The Atlantic, 12 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stumped

Verb

Sarah was sent to a mental hospital, and the boys were shuffled among family members, ending up with their penniless grandmother in Kentucky.

— Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 3 July 2026
As soon as the game wrapped up, those guests shuffled out, and hours later were replaced by a rowdier group ordering shots at the bar, dancing to 2000s hits in front of the DJ booth and smoking vape pens on the outdoor patio.

— Katelyn Umholtz, Kansas City Star, 1 July 2026

Definition of shuffled

Verb

News to know now The Supreme Court said Texas can enforce age verification and parental consent requirements for most apps while those rules are being challenged as a free-speech violation.

— Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA Today, 7 July 2026
Belgium challenged the decision on Monday morning, but FIFA overturned it, clearing the way for Balogun to return.

— Anna Lazarus Caplan, PEOPLE, 7 July 2026

Definition of challenged

Verb

The day after the earthquakes, some volunteers stumbled upon a 7-year-old boy named Mateo, shirtless and covered in debris, sitting by himself on a sidewalk in La Guaira.

— Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 1 July 2026
Scientists have stumbled on a rare dinosaur fossil from Antarctica, tucked away for decades in a drawer.

— CBS News, CBS News, 30 June 2026

Definition of stumbled

Verb

Members of white government clubs hassled their white neighbors into political lockstep and advertised physical and financial retribution for any Black person who dared to vote.

— Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 3 July 2026
Tillman, whose right foot was bloodied before the kick because a Bosnian player stepped on it, still arced a shot over five standing Bosnians, into an unsaveable spot that keeper Nikola Vasilj almost dared Tillman to target.

— Sean Gregory, Time, 2 July 2026

Definition of dared

Verb

On Monday night, a 39-year-old man wearing a Spurs jersey was stomped and punched after Game 3 while walking down West 47th Street, about 15 blocks from the arena.

— Alaa Elassar, CNN Money, 14 June 2026
It's been 33 years since Jurassic Park first stomped into theaters, and blockbusters haven't been the same since.

— Huntley Woods, Entertainment Weekly, 11 June 2026

Definition of stomped

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stump

stumped

stumper

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“Stumped.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stumped. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of stumped

verb

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