dazed

adjective

ˈdāzd 

: unable to think clearly or act normally due to injury, shock, bewilderment, fatigue, etc.

After a particularly fierce blow, he crawled to his feet, too dazed to rush.

—Jack London

She sat confused and dazed after hearing the news.

also : characteristic of one who is dazed

had a dazed look on her face

dazedly

ˈdā-zəd-lē 

adverb

… a lethargy so complete that he could lie on his bed for an hour at a time, staring dazedly into space …

—J. K. Rowling

dazedness

ˈdā-zəd-nəs 

ˈdāzd-

noun

… mistaking for dazedness the profound concentration of his mind.

—Booth Tarkington

Synonyms

• addle
• addled
• addlepated
• bedeviled
• befogged
• befuddled
• bemused
• bewildered
• bushed [chiefly Australian]
• confounded
• confused
• distracted
• dizzy
• dopey
• dopy
• fogged
• mixed-up
• muddleheaded
• muzzy
• pixilated
• pixillated
• punch-drunk
• punchy
• raddled
• shell-shocked
• silly
• slaphappy
• spaced-out
• spaced
• spacey
• spacy
• stunned
• stupefied
• zonked
• zonked-out

Examples of dazed in a Sentence

the dazed goalie could only watch as the winning point went flying past him

Recent Examples on the Web

Other tribes of music-heads danced through dawn on muddy hillsides, barely sleeping or eating through the driving rain, dazed but giddy to take part in a massive, improbable event. —Phillip Valys, Sun Sentinel, 9 Jan. 2025

American Primeval’s second episode wastes no time, picking up mere moments after the end of the premiere, which left a dazed Jacob looking for his wife in the middle of a field filled with dead bodies. —Keith Phipps, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2025

Almost a decade later, Dickinson still gets a bit dazed reflecting on that time in his life. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 19 Dec. 2024

My father, dazed and grieving, seemed open to being enlisted in an expedition. —Youmna Melhem Chamieh, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above