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

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

OpenAI on Tuesday said its artificial intelligence technology has cracked one of the Millennium Problems –– seven famously difficult and unsolved questions in mathematics that have stumped even the world’s brightest minds. — Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026

In the last few weeks, a few key figures trusted by the president have stumped for such an incentive. — Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2026

The president stumped for Mazzei during a telephone rally the day before the election. — Alex Gladden, Oklahoman, 25 Aug. 2026