surprisingly

adverb

sur·​pris·​ing·​ly sər-ˈprī-ziŋ-lē 

sə-

1

: in a surprising manner : to a surprising degree

a surprisingly fast runner

2

: it is surprising that

surprisingly, voter turnout was high

Examples of surprisingly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Not surprisingly, Trump balked at the establishment candidates presented to him for the post: Jay Clayton, his first-term chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Robert Giuffra, a chair of the venerable New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell; and Missouri’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey. —Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025

The United States is, not surprisingly, concerned about alliance burden-sharing and security commitments, recently focusing on Australia and Japan and their respective views toward Taiwan. —Frank Lavin, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2025

Yet, not surprisingly, local reaction to this bizarre project has been mixed in the federal city. —Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025

Not surprisingly, it’s been a struggle for him in August. —Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1661, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for surprisingly

• tantalizingly
• unsurprisingly
• uncompromisingly

Kids Definition

surprisingly

adverb

sur·​pris·​ing·​ly -lē 

1

: in a surprising manner : to a surprising degree

a surprisingly fast runner

2

: it is surprising that

surprisingly, no one disagreed