shock

The word “shock” means a sudden, jarring surprise or emotional blow. In plain terms, a sudden jolt — emotional, electrical, or medical — or the reaction to something startling.

“Shock” is pronounced shok (/ʃɔk/ in IPA).

Here is “shock” used in a sentence: “The news of her resignation came as a real shock to the team.”

Depending on how it is used, “shock” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “shock” comes from French. From an old Germanic root meaning to jolt or collide, arriving in English via French and Dutch influences on the word for a violent impact.

“Shock” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

“Shock” has 5 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a sudden, jarring surprise or emotional blow.

Surprise is the reaction to something unexpected and can be mild or even pleasant. Shock is stronger and more jarring, a sudden emotional blow that can leave you stunned, upset, or momentarily unable to react. All shock involves surprise, but not every surprise rises to the intensity of shock.

Hearing sudden bad news, such as the loss of a loved one, an accident, or a job lost without warning, can produce shock: a stunned, numb feeling where the mind struggles to take in what has happened. The jarring, unexpected nature of the event is what makes it a shock rather than mere sadness.

Yes. Although shock often follows bad news, a sudden happy event can be shocking too, such as an unexpected win, a surprise reunion, or life-changing good fortune. The word describes the jarring force of the surprise itself, not whether the news is good or bad. We sometimes call this a pleasant shock.

There is no single opposite, but words like calm, composure, and expectation sit at the other end. Where shock is sudden and jarring, calm is steady and unruffled, and something expected or anticipated cannot shock you because it arrives without surprise. The best opposite depends on your emphasis.