stunning

stunning — adjective

1. describes a person or thing that is so beautiful or attractive that the sight of

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

describes a person or thing that is so beautiful or attractive that the sight of it almost has the power to surprise or shock you — for example, a dress that makes everyone stop and stare, or a view that takes your breath away.

Example

Paloma wore a stunning red dress to the wedding that turned everyone's head.

stunning + noun (attributive: stunning red dress)

The view from the mountaintop was absolutely stunning, with golden light spreading across the valley.

be + stunning after a linking verb

Common collocations
  • stunning view
  • stunning beauty
  • stunning dress
  • stunning smile
  • stunning scenery
  • stunning appearance
  • absolutely stunning
  • truly stunning
Synonyms
  • gorgeous

    warmer, more informal — suggests rich, vibrant beauty often with colour or decoration

  • striking

    focuses on being unusual enough to grab attention, not necessarily traditionally beautiful

  • breathtaking

    emphasises the emotional reaction, as though the beauty leaves you breathless

Antonyms
  • ugly

    plain opposite of beautiful

  • plain

    unremarkable in appearance, lacking the striking quality

Grammar Patterns

stunning + noun

be + stunning

Usage Note

Commonly used with intensifying adverbs such as absolutely, truly, and simply. The emphasis is on the surprising degree of beauty — a person described as stunning is not just pretty but strikingly attractive.

Common Mistakes

She is stunning for a girl her age.
She is stunning.
Stunning is an absolute adjective; adding a qualifier like 'for a…' weakens the meaning and sounds unnatural.

2. so good, unusual, or unexpected that it surprises you in a powerful way — for ex

2.adjectiveB1
Definition

so good, unusual, or unexpected that it surprises you in a powerful way — for example, a sports result that no one predicted, a discovery that changes what people thought was true, or a performance far better than anyone expected.

Example

The team's stunning victory in the final match surprised everyone in the stadium.

stunning + noun (stunning victory)

Reuben made a stunning discovery when he found ancient coins buried in his backyard.

Common collocations
  • stunning victory
  • stunning defeat
  • stunning discovery
  • stunning revelation
  • stunning result
  • stunning achievement
  • stunning blow
  • stunning news
Synonyms
  • astounding

    slightly stronger — focuses on disbelief, as in 'astounding that it could be true'

  • shocking

    more negative — emphasises that the news is unpleasant or disturbing

  • staggering

    focuses on the scale or size of something surprising, like a staggering amount of money

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

stunning + noun

be + stunning

it be stunning + to-infinitive

Usage Note

In this sense, stunning often describes unexpected news, results, or revelations — something that causes a mental 'jolt.' It can be positive (a stunning success) or negative (a stunning defeat). Distinguish from sense 1, where stunning describes visual beauty; in sense 2, the subject is typically an event, fact, or piece of information rather than a person's appearance.

Common Mistakes

The stunning weather made us happy.
The beautiful weather made us happy.
Stunning in sense 2 implies surprise or shock; pleasant weather is not surprising enough to warrant this word.

Word family

  • stun
    verbB2
  • stunned
    adjectiveB1
  • stunningly
    adverbB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Beautiful is the most general word for visual pleasure, suitable for anything from a face to a landscape. Gorgeous is warmer and more informal — it suggests rich, vibrant beauty, often with colour, decoration, or luxury (a gorgeous sunset, a gorgeous silk scarf). Striking emphasises that something is unusual enough to grab your attention, even if it is not conventionally pretty (a striking face with high cheekbones). Breathtaking focuses on the emotional reaction, as though the beauty has literally taken your breath away (a breathtaking view from the cliff edge). Stunning, like breathtaking, underlines the shock value of beauty — something so impressive it feels almost overwhelming. A person can be quietly beautiful but only stunning when the effect is dramatically strong. Compare: 'She looked beautiful at the party' (general compliment) versus 'She looked stunning in that red dress' (heads-turning effect).

beautiful ↗gorgeous ↗striking ↗breathtaking ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Prepositions

  • in (stunning in a dress)
  • with (stunning with the right lighting)

Etymology

Vulgar LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Stunning is the present-participle adjective form of the verb stun, which entered English through Old French estoner (to stun, daze, or astonish), from Vulgar Latin *extonare (to strike with thunder). The original meaning was literal — to knock someone unconscious. By the 1600s, stunning was used figuratively to describe something that 'stuns the mind' with surprise or shock. The softer sense of 'extremely beautiful' developed in the 1800s, based on the idea that great beauty can have a similar dazing, breathtaking effect on a person.