shell shock
shell shock noun: a psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle, corresponding largely with the current diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Noun
shell shock (countable and uncountable, plural shell shocks)
- A psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle, corresponding largely with the current diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- There's a condition in combat—most people know it by now. It occurs when a soldier's nervous system has reached the breaking point. In World War I, it was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables. Shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. Shell shock!!2004, George Carlin, “EUPHEMISMS: Shell Shock to PTSD”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 40
- Synonyms:
- battle fatigue, combat fatigue
- A person with the condition.
- I passed through the shell-shock wards and a yard where the "shell-shocks" sat about, dumb, or making queer, foolish noises, or staring with a look of animal fear in their eyes.1920, Phillip Gibbs, Now It Can Be Told, published 2009, page 350
- Of the 79 officer casualties 10 were "shell-shocks", or about 12 per cent, of the whole. Of the 10 shell-shocks 4 were sent to C.C.S. and 6 to Corps Rest Station.1943, Arthur Graham Butler, The Australian Army Medical Services in the War of 1914-1918, volume 3, page 107
- A stunning shock.
- "[…]Think of me / With all these psychic shell shocks — first the war, / Its great emotions, then this Elenor."2004, Edgar Lee Masters, Barrett Bays: Domesday Book, page 322
- But while malls killed much of downtown America, they only partially injured New York City. The density of this city guaranteed a less dramatic impact than the shell shocks that crippled so many other cities.2010, Roberta Brandes Gratz, The Battle for Gotham, page 21
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see shell, shock.
- The other was to go on, to the next drink or the bed or the grass outside, where the party-noises ebbed and flowed like shell-shocks and the Southern Cross burnt crookedly above.1967, Bernard Share, Inish, page 99
Verb
shell shock (third-person singular simple present shell shocks, present participle shell shocking, simple past and past participle shell shocked)
- To stun or debilitate as by a shock.
- It was General du Pont's 'forty-five' which bellowed and thundered and echoed through Fifth avenue, scaring horses and shell shocking pedestrians.1919, Bulletin of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, numbers 148-152, page xx
- The crack of the home run that the batsman cherishes shell-shocks the nerves of the pitcher who threw it.1999, Brother Gilbert (Phillip F. Cairnes), Harry Rothgerber (editor), Young Babe Ruth, page 146
shell shock meaning in Arabic
shell shock in Arabic
- psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle
- إِرْتِجَاج دِمَاغِيّ ʔirtijāj dimāḡiyy
Examples of shell shock in a sentence
- Most nurses found the helplessness of "the shell shocks" painful and "pitiful."2004, Susan Zeiger, In Uncle Sam's Service: Women Workers with the American Expeditionary Force, 1917—1919, page 131:
- Barry sounded lighter, his spirits lifting slightly from the shell shocking humiliation and helplessness he'd been feeling.2010, John E. Shephard, Jr, Cottage Lake Soliloquy, page 10:
Synonyms of shell shock
Forms of shell shock
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shell shocks |
| alternative form | shellshock |
| alternative form | shell-shock |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shell shocks |
| present participle | shell shocking |
| past participle | shell shocked |
| past | shell shocked |
Origin of shell shock
Well attested during World War I. Attempts to find attestations that predate that war seem fruitless. The ambiguity of reference to a range of phenomena, from physical concussion due to the explosively loud noise of artillery fire (on both the sending and receiving ends) to psychological reactions to violence and maiming, was present in the term's use from the start. In 21st-century wars there is continued evidence that long, close exposure to the noise of artillery can cause traumatic brain injury even in soldiers who did not take incoming artillery fire. But most discussions of shell shock in World War I concerned combat stress as well.
Questions about shell shock
- What does shell shock mean?
- Shell shock means a psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle, corresponding largely with the current diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- What is shell shock in Arabic?
- Shell shock in Arabic is إِرْتِجَاج دِمَاغِيّ (ʔirtijāj dimāḡiyy). See Shell shock meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use shell shock in a sentence?
- Most nurses found the helplessness of "the shell shocks" painful and "pitiful."
- What part of speech is shell shock?
- Shell shock can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of shell shock?
- The plural of shell shock is shell shocks.
Words near shell shock in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shell shock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “shell shock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shell_shock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.