surprise

¹sur·prise

noun \sə(r)-ˈprīz\

Definition of SURPRISE

1

a : an attack made without warning b : a taking unawares

2

: something that surprises

3

: the state of being surprised : astonishment

Variants of SURPRISE

sur·prise also sur·prize \sə(r)-ˈprīz\

Examples of SURPRISE

1. What a pleasant surprise to see you!
2. It's no surprise that he doesn't want to go.
3. Is it any surprise that she should feel disappointed?
4. The teacher sprang a surprise on us and gave a pop quiz.
5. I have a special surprise for the children.
6. The trip was a surprise for her birthday.
7. Is the party a surprise?
8. Imagine our surprise when they sold their house and moved to the Bahamas.
9. He stared at her in surprise.

Origin of SURPRISE

Middle English suppryse exaction, seizure, from Anglo-French sousprise, supprise, from feminine of supris, surpris, suspris, past participle of surprendre & susprendre to capture, take by surprise, from sur- & sus-, suz under + prendre to take — more at prize, sous

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to SURPRISE

Synonyms: bombshell, jar, jaw-dropper, jolt, stunner, bolt from the blue (also bolt out of the blue)

Related Words: shock, thunderclap; eye-opener, revelation, shocker; amazement, marvel, wonder; fillip, kick, kicker, twist, wrinkle

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Rhymes with SURPRISE

abscise, advise, apprise, apprize, arise, assize, baptize, bite-size, breadthwise, capsize, chastise, clockwise, coastwise, cognize, comprise, crabwise, crack wise, crosswise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, disprize, door prize, downsize, earthrise, edgewise, emprise, endwise, excise, fanwise, franchise, full-size, grecize, high-rise, incise, king-size, leastwise, lengthwise, Levi's, life-size, likewise, low-rise, man-size, mid-rise, midsize, misprize, moonrise, nowise, outsize, piecewise, pint-size, premise, quantize, queen-size, remise, reprise, revise, rightsize, slantwise, streetwise, stylize, suffice, sunrise, surmise, trim size, twin-size, unwise, uprise