Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Struck hard; afflicted; visited with some great disaster; suddenly or powerfully affected in body or mind: sometimes used in compounds, as fever-smitten, drought-smitten, love-smitten.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • p. p. of smite.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Made irrationally enthusiastic.
  • adjective In love.
  • verb Past participle of smite

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
  • adjective (used in combination) affected by something overwhelming

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English verb smittian "to pollute", cognate with German schmitzen, to pollute, and through Middle Low German with Danish smitte, to infect.

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Examples

  • The term smitten is here significant and deserves our serious consideration.

    The Christian Home Samuel Philips

  • It's a clever mix of slightly blurred actual history and fiction that Sarah Bower has created, and I was smitten from the very first page on finding myself right in the thick of battle, fire-tipped arrows and severed hands the lot.

    50 entries from June 2007 2007

  • It's a clever mix of slightly blurred actual history and fiction that Sarah Bower has created, and I was smitten from the very first page on finding myself right in the thick of battle, fire-tipped arrows and severed hands the lot.

    The Needle in the Blood 2007

  • I am still a fan of Fairy Tales and remain smitten with any story that begins, “Once upon a time …”

    First Book: What Book Got You Hooked? 2007

  • It's a clever mix of slightly blurred actual history and fiction that Sarah Bower has created, and I was smitten from the very first page on finding myself right in the thick of battle, fire-tipped arrows and severed hands the lot.

    The Needle in the Blood 2007

  • While I watched in smitten disbelief, he began furiously licking whatever salty ankle-sweat he found there -- his whole 12 oz. body thrashing back and forth with the adorable joy of a pup who hasn't figured out yet how to wag his tail without knocking himself over.

    monday is made for disjointed messages of greeting wyldkyss 2004

  • It's no secret that I am enamored with the tablet computer (did I really use the word smitten in my early review?), but there are some definite drawbacks here, too.

    11Alive.com | Atlanta Video News 2010

  • "I would never dream of saying I was 'smitten' -- with _you_."

    Far to Seek A Romance of England and India Maud Diver 1906

  • And here, because I’m totally smitten, is Anna looking absolutely GORGEOUS in some silly magazine:

    #205 ~ Rabid Lamb Comics (and a mini-review of True Blood) « 1979 Semi-Finalist… 2008

  • (Yes, celebrating is the right word -- I think Mr. Majors has pioneered what could be called the smitten narrator.)

    A Saga of Brother Bankers 2009

Comments

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  • Literally from the verb smite, I smite, I smote, I had smitten. The metaphorical sense is all that survives, as people very rarely use this verb any more.

    February 20, 2007

  • I'm a smitten kitten. I love the word smitten. It's beyond romantic..

    September 10, 2007

  • Love, the most tactless, the most bohemian of gods, had appeared just when he was not wanted, and smitten Scales boisterously between the shoulder-blades.

    -- ''Yashima, or, The Gorgeous West'' by R T Sherwood, 1931.

    December 24, 2008

  • So, if you are smitten with someone, he has smote you? That's a strange way to conduct romance.

    April 24, 2010

  • Also, why does Roget's Thesaurus II list "sex" as an antonym?

    April 24, 2010