shock
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃɒk/
ipa: /ʃɔk/
ipa: /ʃɑk/
homophone: shark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)
rhymes: -ɒk
Forms: form: shocks
form: choque
Etymology: From Middle Dutch schokken (“to push, jolt, shake, jerk”) or Middle French choquer (“to collide with, clash”), from Old Dutch *skokkan (“to shake up and down, shog”), from Proto-Germanic *skukkaną (“to move, shake, tremble”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek-, *(s)keg- (“to shake, stir”); see shake.
Cognate with Middle Low German schocken (“collide with, deliver a blow to, move back and forth”), Old High German scoc (“a jolt, swing”), Middle High German schocken (“to swing”) (German schaukeln), Old Norse skykkr (“vibration, surging motion”), Icelandic skykkjun (“tremulously”), Middle English schiggen (“to shake”). Doublet of shog.
Senses: examples: text: The train hit the buffers with a great shock.
glosses: A sudden, heavy impact.
glosses: A sudden, heavy impact.
Something so surprising that it is stunning.
synonyms: word: amazement
word: astonishment
word: awe
word: bewilderment
word: flabbergast
word: flabbergastation
word: flabbergastment
word: shock
word: stupefaction
word: surprise
examples: text: A tremendous shock arises when a secret is discovered.
ref: 2005, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler, On Grief and Grieving, →ISBN, page 85:
topics: human-sciences
psychology
sciences
glosses: A sudden, heavy impact.
A sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance.
examples: text: But as was the case with pacemakers, external defibrillators were unwieldy, and the shocks they delivered—in the rare cases when patients were still conscious—were painful.
ref: 2018, Sandeep Jauhar, Heart: a History, →ISBN, page 173:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: A sudden, heavy impact.
Electric shock, a sudden burst of electrical energy hitting a person or animal.
examples: text: Fans were in shock in the days following the singer's death.
text: ". . . Maureen, I don't feel sad. I don't feel anything. What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing, Cae," she said. "You just haven't been able to take it in yet. Absorb the shock of it."
ref: 2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.5, at p.112
topics: human-sciences
psychology
sciences
glosses: A sudden, heavy impact.
A state of distress following a mental or emotional disturbance, often caused by news or other stimuli.
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: A sudden, heavy impact.
Circulatory shock, a medical emergency characterized by the inability of the circulatory system to supply enough oxygen to meet tissue requirements.
examples: text: Several reflected shocks enter the bomb core in rapid succession, each helping to compress it to its maximum density.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A sudden, heavy impact.
A shock wave.
examples: text: If your truck's been riding rough, it might need new shocks.
text: We're bonin' on the dark blocks / Wearin' out the shocks, wettin' up the dashboard clock
ref: 1993, “Back Seat (of My Jeep)”, in 14 Shots to the Dome, performed by LL Cool J:
text: At the rear, you'll find a single, centrally mounted shock, the now-familiar single-sided swingarm and BMW's Paralever shaft-drive system, which does away with most of a shafty's chassis-jacking bugaboos.
ref: 1994, Cycle World Magazine, volume 33, number 1, page 49:
topics: automotive
engineering
mechanical
mechanical-engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
transport
vehicles
glosses: A shock absorber (typically in the suspension of a vehicle).
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A discontinuity arising in the solution of a partial differential equation.
examples: text: The warehouse that caught fire contained 99% trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA) – used to make chlorinated tablets to control bacteria and algae – and 99% dichloroisocyanuric acid (DCCA), which is used to make swimming pool shock – a treatment used to help break down contaminants.
ref: 2024 November 24, Chris Boyette, “Investigators release update on BioLab chemical plant fire probe”, in CNN:
glosses: A chemical added to a swimming pool to moderate the chlorine levels.
Derived terms: accretion shock
acoustic shock
after-shock
anaphylactic shock
anti-shock
anti-shock body
bottle-shock
bow shock
cardiogenic shock
China shock
circulatory shock
cold shock response
cultural shock
culture shock
current shock
dengue shock syndrome
downshock
economic shock
electric shock
future shock
heat shock
heat shock protein
hypovolemic shock
insulin shock therapy
neurogenic shock
Nixon shock
oblique shock
ontological shock
re-entry shock
return shock
reverse culture shock
septic shock
shell shock
shell-shock
shock absorber
shock absorption
shock and awe
shock collar
shock diamond
shockee
shocker
shock front
shock-headed
shock horror
shocking pink
shock jock
shock mount
shock paddle
shockproof
shock rock
shock site
shock-stall
shock stall
shock stalled
shock-stalled
shock stalling
shock strut
shock tactics
shock therapy
shock to the system
shock troop
shockumentary
shock value
shockvertising
shock wave
shockwave
shock worker
short sharp shock
sticker shock
supply shock
technology shock
termination shock
thermal shock
toxic shock syndrome