shell-shocked

See also: shellshocked and shell shocked

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

shell-shocked (comparative more shell-shocked, superlative most shell-shocked)

  1. (dated) Stunned or mentally unbalanced by prolonged stress such as experienced in combat or under fire (shell-fire); suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
    • 1922, Zane Grey, chapter 1, in The Call of the Canyon:
      Glenn Kilbourne had returned from France early that fall, shell-shocked and gassed, and otherwise incapacitated for service in the army—a wreck of his former sterling self.
  2. (figuratively) Confused as a result of a traumatic experience.
    • 2008 December 18, Luke Mullins, “The Top 5 Housing-Market Hopes for 2009”, in U.S.News & World Report, retrieved 22 Dec. 2008:
      With inflationary pressures easing and economic concerns mounting, shell-shocked investors are seeking the protection of government securities.
    • 2016, Rosie Blake, chapter 15, in How to Find Your (First) Husband, London: Corvus, →ISBN, page 129:
      I lay there, momentarily shell-shocked as, hungover and jet-lagged, I tried to remember what I was doing today. Something important.
    • 2022 July 13, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 961, page 71:
      A family from Knebworth has been left shell-shocked by the return of their beloved tortoise, more than eight months after she went missing.

See also
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