Meaning & use
struck
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“struck” is a form of “strike”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Past tense and past participle of strike: hit someone or something with force.
Grammar: Takes an object: the ball struck the window.
Patterns
- struck something
- struck someone on the head
The ball struck the post and bounced away.
Lightning struck the old oak tree.
He struck the table with his fist.
verbtransitive
Past tense and past participle of strike when an idea, feeling or fact suddenly comes to mind or affects someone.
Grammar: Often used with it as subject: it struck me that she was lying.
Patterns
- it struck someone that
- struck by something
It struck me that nobody had replied.
She was struck by how quiet the town felt.
The sudden silence struck him as odd.
verbintransitive
Past tense and past participle of strike when workers stop work as a protest.
Grammar: No object: the nurses struck for better pay.
Patterns
- struck for something
- struck over something
The dockworkers struck for higher wages.
Bus drivers struck last spring over their schedules.
Teachers had struck twice that year.
adjectivebefore a nounrare
Closed or stopped because workers are on strike.
Grammar: Appears mainly before a noun: a struck factory.
Patterns
- a struck factory
The struck factory was guarded by police.
Customers avoided the struck plant.
Buyers waited for the struck mine to reopen.
Common combinations
- struck by lightning
- The farmer was struck by lightning and survived.
- struck a deal
- The two companies struck a deal on Monday.
- struck dumb
- She was struck dumb by the news.
- struck a chord
- His speech struck a chord with young voters.
- struck a pose
- He struck a pose for the camera.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hit
- Hit is the everyday word for striking something, while struck is a little more formal or literary.
- impressed
- Impressed describes admiration, whereas struck simply means affected strongly, perhaps by something odd.
- occurred
- Occurred is used for thoughts that come to mind, as in it occurred to me, while struck can feel more sudden.
Word family
Commonly confused: struck or stuck?
struck vs stuck
Stuck means unable to move or get free, but struck comes from strike and means hit or affected.
Practice
It suddenly ___ her that the door had been unlocked all night.
Choose one answer.
The past tense of strike is struck, and it struck her that means the thought came suddenly. The other forms are not correct English.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “struck”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.