stumped

verb

past tense of stump
1
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
2
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 Payton has stumped for Shanahan to be in the Hall of Fame and said there’s frustration with the difficulty of getting coaches enshrined the past couple of years. — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 6 Aug. 2026 Abbott has stumped on the promise of property tax relief and empowering taxpayers. — Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 July 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 Tatis’ power outage at age 27 has stumped the baseball world. — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 June 2026 In an interview, Rabb easily answered the question that had stumped Stanford. — David Weigel, semafor.com, 18 May 2026 Streep then did her impersonation of De Niro apparently stumped by a question. — Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 30 Apr. 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 question stumped them, but only to some extent. — Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stumped
  1. shuffled
  2. challenged
  3. stumbled
  4. dared
  5. stomped
Verb
  • The Playoff remains parked at 12 teams, and some G6 conferences shuffled teams, now including North Dakota State and Sacramento State.
    — Jason Kirk, New York Times, 31 July 2026
  • Black voters were shuffled around Houston, with much of the previous 9th Congressional District becoming the new 18th District.
    — Rahul Mukherjee, NPR, 23 July 2026
Definition of shuffled
Verb
  • Anecdotally, less than 1% of asset protection plans are ever challenged by creditors.
    — Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The moves will likely be challenged in court, as previous similar attempts to change the childhood vaccination schedule have been.
    — Rob Stein, NPR, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of challenged
Verb
  • Athletic Club stumbled through most of last season, in part due to star forward Nico Williams never reaching 100 per cent fitness.
    — Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Andropov died in 1984, and Gorbachev took more than a year to gain power while the Kremlin stumbled along under the caretaker regime of the grievously ill Konstantin Chernenko.
    — Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of stumbled
Verb
  • When Guggenheim summoned contestants to the starting line on the first day of June outside City Hall in Manhattan, only four car companies – Acme, Ford, Shawmut, and Itala – dared to show up.
    — Danny Heitman, Christian Science Monitor, 7 Aug. 2026
  • This is far from the first time the model has dared to share a playful nude moment on social media.
    — Meg Walters, InStyle, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of dared
Verb
  • That was broken up by Owens, who stomped Gunther and then caught him with a big clothesline.
    — Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Ten members of a Pennsylvania high school football team, including several coaches, face charges after a player was allegedly stomped with cleats, and jabbed in the buttocks with a broomstick.
    — Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 30 July 2026
Definition of stomped

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stumped
stumper
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Cite this Entry

“Stumped.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stumped. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of stumped for Spanish Speakers

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