gut punch
1
8.0
- noun
- /ɡʌt pʌnʧ/
- Informal
- Hearing that the project had been canceled was a real gut punch for her.
- delivered a gut punch
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeI can't even fathom the gut punch reading white Whale was.
- I can't even fathom the gut punch reading white Whale was.
- But you know, it was at first it was a gut punch and it really hurts and a bunch of stuff is gone, but it's also freeing.
- But it's still a bit of a gut punch as people realize the future faking was a fiction and there is no making this relationship better.
- I was traveling with his daughter-in-law in North Carolina and it was, it was like a a gut punch.
Examples
-
This one that my friend John texted today really felt like a gut punch.
Blog text (14) -
Note this description of a real gut punch that might be coming.
Blog text (18) -
Sure, some of us took a gut punch with this last movie, but we're still willing to give you our time, consideration, and money.
Blog text (24) -
My Nationals lost in unbelievable gut-punch fashion on Friday night.
Blog text (29) -
Markets and business owners are struggling to prepare for these two gut punches.
Blog text (8) -
Yet, when I read the third-to-last paragraph, I received a gut punch.
Blog text (4) -
It felt like a gut punch to her humanity.
Fiction book (2001) -
But it's still a bit of a gut punch as people realize the future faking was a fiction and there is no making this relationship better.
-
The show may have gone a bit off the rails for most of the rest of its final season, but those final moments of the show are a gut punch.
Blog text (20) -
As a Nintendo fan, it was a real gut punch when Square took Final Fantasy and everything else to PlayStation in 1996 (it was then I decided to get the PS).
Blog text (32)
Synonyms
567
2.3
A sudden strong feeling of surprise and distress after an unexpected event
49
3.4
A sudden strong feeling of worry or shock caused by something unexpected
13
5.8
A feeling of extreme sadness and shock after a big loss
8
3.5
A sudden sharp feeling, often of pain or strong emotion
4
6.3
A sudden change in life or work that feels unpleasant and hard to handle
3
7.4
A very bad disappointment that makes you feel hurt and unfairly treated
3
4.9
A loss that happens at the last moment and hurts a lot
2
7.3
A sudden event that causes great harm or shock to plans and feelings
Antonyms
How Devastating
Surface Forms
Morphology
gut + punch
The phrase literally combines 'gut' (stomach) + 'punch' (a blow), so the idea of a visceral, forceful hit is directly available from the words, but the common usage shifts this to a metaphorical emotional shock or disappointment rather than a physical blow. Because understanding the idiomatic emotional sense requires recognizing a metaphorical extension (though this extension is common cross-linguistically), a B1 learner who knows both constituents could plausibly guess the general sense but not fully predict the conventionalized meaning without exposure.
Etymology
The noun gut punch comes from the image of a punch to the gut, the stomach area, that knocks the breath out of you. That's why people use it for sudden bad news or events that feel like a 'shock' or deep 'disappointment'.