Make Your Readers Speechless for the Right Reasons

You want to render booklovers speechless by your inspired writing but not by using the word speechless so often you exasperate them.

This post will provide more than 200 ways to replace speechless with different words.

Maybe Breathless Is the Word You Need

Physical activities, emotions, and health issues can cause breathlessness, and breathless characters will be unable to talk for a while. Instead of describing those characters as speechless, you could edit scenes to show them gasping, leaning forward with hands on knees, collapsing, or looking for a medical assist device. The following situations are a few of many that might cause breathing difficulties:

• a panic or asthma attack
• choking
• running a race
• climbing a mountain
• working out
• a marathon session in bed
• chasing a [dog, horse, child, burglar, homework assignment or hat blown away by the wind]
• climbing stairs
• any activity performed at high altitude or on a planet with low oxygen levels
• extreme temperatures
• washing windows

Many Emotions Can Cause Breathlessness and Speechlessness

And people can express emotions without uttering a single word. Here are a few examples, followed by beats that can show readers what your characters are experiencing.

Shock or surprise: obvious to everyone in the scene

• blinking
• blood draining from one’s face
• clutching one’s chest with one or both hands
• covering one’s ears with hands
• hands in the air
• hiding one’s face with hands or hair
• legs that tremble
• an O-shaped mouth
• peaked eyebrows and wrinkled forehead
• pressing a hand against one’s chest, with fingers splayed wide
• pressing fingers against one’s gaping mouth
• a quick flash of a frown on one’s face
• quickly elevating one’s eyebrows and accompanying them with protuberant “flashbulb” eyes
• raising one’s chin
• a slack jaw
• staring, with hands cupped over one’s head
• sudden audible inhalation through one’s mouth
• touching one’s face or lips with fingers
• widening one’s eyes so much that the whites show

Extreme fear: obvious only to POV character

Or the reactions, although inconspicuous, might be noticeable to others.

• bad taste in one’s mouth
• blurred vision
• cold extremities
• compulsive swallowing
• confused thoughts
• depression
• distorted time perception
• dizziness
• dry mouth
• exhaustion
• faked bravado
• feigned exasperation or anger
• flashbacks
• flinching
• goosebumps
• horripilation (bristling) of hair on neck and arms
• holding one’s breath
• hypersensitivity of all senses
• insomnia
• muscle spasms
• nausea
• numb fingers
• pain in one’s chest
• poor memory
• racing pulse
• rash decisions
• restless feet or legs
• shaking knees
• substance abuse
• sudden cessation of movement
• sweaty palms
• taut shoulders
• thumping heart
• tight leg muscles caused by flight-or-fight response
• tinnitus
• weak or buckling knees

Non-POV characters also provide fear clues

Most of the following actions, obvious to everyone, allow a writer to weave a tale without worrying about head-hopping.

• adjusting clothing, distractedly or compulsively
• alienation from acquaintances and family
• angling feet away from object of fear
• audible exhalations
• biting on lip(s)
• blanching
• blocking body with hands or fists
• chewing on pen, pencil, fingernails, hair, or lips
• clenched fingers
• clenched mouth
• closed body position, with hands protecting groin
• clutching tightly at personal possessions
• constricted pupils
• covering one’s face with hands, magazine, scarf, etc.
• cowering
• cringing
• crossing one’s arms across the chest
• curling into fetal position
• darting eyes
• distracted dialogue
• fast, shallow breathing
• fidgeting
• flared nostrils
• flushing
• furrowed brow
• gaping mouth
• gazing in all directions to search for danger
• glistening or damp eyes
• grabbing someone for protection or support
• gulping huge mouthfuls of air
• guzzling large quantities of water, beer, etc.
• hair-twirling
• heart attack
• heavy breathing
• hiding behind someone or something
• hugging oneself
• increasing personal space
• jerky movements
• jiggling change or keys in pocket
• licking one’s lips
• loss of bladder control
• minimal eye contact and staring elsewhere
• nail-biting
• pacing
• panic attack
• positioning an object in the path of danger
• protecting one’s back with a wall or barrier
• raising one’s eyebrows and wrinkling the forehead
• rapid blinking
• recoiling
• repetitive behavior
• retreating from perceived danger
• rubbing one’s arms
• scratching
• shaking or tapping one’s feet or legs
• sighing
• slouching or hunching
• squaring one’s shoulders and assuming a hostile stance
• squinting
• stepping backward
• sweating
• throat clearing
• tiptoeing
• trembling hands, lips, and chin
• tugging on an ear
• tugging on hair
• turning away
• visible pulse in one’s neck
• vomiting
• white-knuckled grasp of objects
• wide eyes, which might elevate to staring
• wincing
• wringing one’s hands

Looking for More Emotion Beats?

If you need additional beats, consult a body language dictionary. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Adjectives

The following descriptors could refer to speechless characters. Be sure to include adjectives that match the context, and don’t choose a word unless you know what it means.

A to C

aghast, anesthetized, aphasic, aphonic, astounded, at a loss for words, awed, bedazzled, bemused, bereft of speech, blown away, bowled over, buttoned-up, cataleptic, clammed-up, closed-up, close-lipped, close-mouthed, comatose, confounded

D to L

dazed, dazzled, deadened, dumbfounded, dumbstruck, dummied-up, flabbergasted, floored, flummoxed, frozen, gobsmacked, hit for six, horrorstricken, horror-struck, inaudible, incommunicative, knocked down, knocked for six, knocked out, knocked sideways, laid-out, lifeless, lost for words

M to S

mum, mute, noiseless, nonverbal, nonvocal, numb, obmutescent, ossified, out cold, out of words, overpowered, petrified, quiet, rigid with fear, saying nothing, scared stiff, shell-shocked, shocked, silent, silentious, slack-jawed, soundless, staggered, stunned, stupefied

T to Z

taken-aback, terrified, thunderstruck, tight-lipped, tongueless, tongue-tied, unable to get a word out, unable to speak, uncommunicative, unconscious, unforthcoming, unresponsive, unspeaking, voiceless, wordless, zipped (as in to zip one’s lip)

As You Write, Remember Sam Owen’s Advice

“Sometimes being overwhelmed by emotions can leave you speechless but even then it is important to identify the correct emotion.”

Happy writing!