(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you have a ~, something suddenly happens which is unpleasant, upsetting, or very surprising.
The extent of the violence came as a ~...
He has never recovered from the ~ of your brother’s death...
N-COUNT
2.
Shock is a person’s emotional and physical condition when something very frightening or upsetting has happened to them.
She’s still in a state of ~.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
If someone is in ~, they are suffering from a serious physical condition in which their blood is not flowing round their body properly, for example because they have had a bad injury.
They escaped the blaze but were rushed to hospital suffering from ~.
N-UNCOUNT: oft in N
4.
If something ~s you, it makes you feel very upset, because it involves death or suffering and because you had not expected it.
After forty years in the police force nothing much ~s me...
VERB: V n
~ed
This was a nasty attack and the woman is still very ~ed.
ADJ
5.
If someone or something ~s you, it upsets or offends you because you think it is rude or morally wrong.
You can’t ~ me...
They were easily ~ed in those days...
We were always trying to be creative and to ~.
VERB: V n, be V-ed, V
~ed
Don’t look so ~ed.
ADJ
6.
A ~ announcement or event is one which ~s people because it is unexpected. (JOURNALISM)
...the ~ announcement that she is to resign.
...a ~ defeat.
ADJ: ADJ n
7.
A ~ is the force of something suddenly hitting or pulling something else.
Steel barriers can bend and absorb the ~.
N-VAR
8.
A ~ is the same as an electric ~ .
N-COUNT
9.
A ~ of hair is a very thick mass of hair on a person’s head. (WRITTEN)
...a very old priest with a ~ of white hair.
N-COUNT: N of n
10.
see also ~ing , culture ~ , electric ~ , shell ~