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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of stumped
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stumped
Verb
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Sarah was sent to a mental hospital, and the boys were shuffled among family members, ending up with their penniless grandmother in Kentucky.
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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.
Verb
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Jan Paul van Hecke of the Netherlands has been involved in two scraps already, the latest when he was hit while going for a header and crumbled, perhaps exaggerating a tad, after Morocco's Azzedine Ounahi challenged the header, as well.
-
Eight groups challenged the department’s definition in court, representing nurse practitioners, therapists, speech language pathologists and more.
Verb
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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.
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Scientists have stumbled on a rare dinosaur fossil from Antarctica, tucked away for decades in a drawer.
Verb
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Nobody around dared speak or shout.
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That was the term widely used against social critics, artists, novelists—anyone in Austria who dared to be too critical of the country after the Second World War.
Verb
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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.
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It's been 33 years since Jurassic Park first stomped into theaters, and blockbusters haven't been the same since.
Cite this Entry
“Stumped.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stumped. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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