Synonyms of stumped

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

• shuffled
• stumbled
• stomped
• barged
• floundered
• weaved
• stamped
• lurched
• trudged
• clumped
• sloughed
• lumped
• hauled
• dragged
• shambled
• tramped
• scuffled
• scuffed
• pounded
• plodded
• lumbered
• staggered
• slogged
• galumphed
• flogged
• flopped
• tromped
• swayed
• blundered
• reeled
• waddled
• tottered
• wobbled
• doddered
• careened
• teetered

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• slid
• whisked
• glided
• floated
• hung
• drifted
• hovered
• waltzed
• coasted
• breezed
• poised
• wafted

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

• challenged
• dared
• confronted
• defied
• faced
• braved
• bearded
• brazened
• outfaced
• outbraved
• breasted

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of stumped

Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore also stumped at the venue. — Charlotte Observer, 30 Oct. 2026

There are the requisite yard signs, campaign volunteers and meet-and-greet events in converted barns like the one where Jackson stumped on a crisp Wednesday morning in Chatsworth this week. — Patricia Murphy, AJC.com, 22 Oct. 2026

Speculating on how a magic trick was done that stumped me in a bar 17 years ago. — Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026

Both lawmakers stumped for El-Sayed during the Senate primary. — Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 15 Oct. 2026

Ocasio-Cortez has stumped in upstate New York, while Ossoff has joined forces with gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms and other Democrats running for office in the Peach State. — Molly Parks, The Washington Examiner, 5 Oct. 2026

My dad found the blog of a man who claimed to cure his Stage 4 lung cancer with a regimen of fenbendazole, a miraculous recovery that stumped his oncologists. — Trisha Thadani Kirsten Potter Tanya Pérez Devin Murphy, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026

Vance stumped in Florida, putting the Republican Party's highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races. — Michelle L. Price, Arkansas Online, 2 Oct. 2026

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon observed in quantum physics that even stumped the great Albert Einstein. — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 15 Sep. 2026