astonish

verb

as·​ton·​ish ə-ˈstä-nish 

astonished; astonishing; astonishes

transitive verb

1

: to strike with sudden and usually great wonder or surprise

He was too astonished to speak

They were astonished by the vastness and majesty of the cathedral.

In retrospect, it astonishes me that we avoided a major quarrel for so long.

—Christopher Hitchens

2

obsolete : to strike with sudden fear

Synonyms

• amaze
• astound
• bowl over
• dumbfound
• dumfound
• flabbergast
• floor
• rock
• shock
• startle
• stun
• stupefy
• surprise
• surprize
• thunderstrike

Choose the Right Synonym for astonish

surprise, astonish, astound, amaze, flabbergast mean to impress forcibly through unexpectedness.

surprise stresses causing an effect through being unexpected but not necessarily unusual or novel.

surprised to find them at home

astonish implies surprising so greatly as to seem incredible.

a discovery that astonished the world

astound stresses the shock of astonishment.

too astounded to respond

amaze suggests an effect of bewilderment.

amazed by the immense size of the place

flabbergast may suggest thorough astonishment and bewilderment or dismay.

flabbergasted by his angry refusal

Examples of astonish in a Sentence

Despite the hype, there was nothing in the book to astonish readers.

The garden's beauty never fails to astonish.

Recent Examples on the Web

That meant those showing up in New Zealand were astonished to discover their task was to climb the New Zealand Fiji Mountains within 14 days. —Mark Peikert, IndieWire, 29 Sep. 2024

Immediately upon being plucked from the proverbial shadows of the backroom studio, Alessandro Michele astonished with his new Gucci, a house reawakened by an intriguing gentility rich with influences from antiquity to today’s urban culture. —Bridget Foley, WWD, 27 Sep. 2024

Sorg didn't anticipate that Charlie's story would touch so many hearts, but she's been astonished by the positive response. —Marco Rubio, Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2024

Floor-to-Ceiling Home Library When Bella takes in Edward's bedroom for the first time, she's astonished by the array of bookshelves. —Isabella Milano, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

extension by -ish, transitive verbal suffix (as in accomplish, diminish) of astone, astonne, astony "to strike with surprise or fear, stun," going back to Middle English astonen, astonien "to stun, daze, surprise, astound," borrowed from Anglo-French astuner (attested once), estoner, estuner (also continental Old French estoner), going back to Vulgar Latin *extonāre, alteration, by substitution of the suffix ex- ex- entry 1, of Latin attonāre "to strike with lightning, drive crazy" (past participle attonitus "struck with lightning, stupefied, dumbfounded"), from at- ad- + tonāre "to thunder" — more at thunder entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1534, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

astonish

verb

as·​ton·​ish ə-ˈstän-ish 

: to strike with sudden wonder or surprise

astonishingly

-iŋ-lē

adverb

astonishment

-mənt

noun