astonished

adjective

as·​ton·​ished ə-ˈstä-nisht How to pronounce astonished (audio)
: feeling or showing great surprise or wonder : astounded, amazed
… she awoke the next day astonished to find that she suffered no ill effects.Jean T. Barrett
heard the news with an astonished smile

Examples of astonished in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Yet that's what one astonished resident in Tampa found early Thursday morning, according to aerial night vision footage showing the creature making its way around a pool area. Patrick Smith, NBC News, 9 Feb. 2024 No one is more astonished by all this than Manilow himself. Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Jan. 2024 These are the moments, in the astonished silence after catastrophes, when most people suddenly become hyperaware of intelligence agencies in their all-too-human reality. Tamsin Shaw, The New York Review of Books, 18 Jan. 2024 Magni still sounds slightly astonished about her success in Federica’s case. Jordan Michael Smith, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2024 His eighteen-year-old daughter, Zarina, was pregnant, and looked at me with astonished eyes, green and yellow like the grass of the steppe in summer. Elettra Pauletto, Harper's Magazine, 11 Dec. 2023 Expressions of astonished glee lit up both kids’ faces. Flora Stubbs, Travel + Leisure, 28 Nov. 2023 The duck’s debut drew attention from astonished locals and visitors, and even garnered national attention, Smith told CNN. Ashley R. Williams, CNN, 2 Sep. 2023 An astonished nurse there found him the next morning. John Carlisle, USA TODAY, 1 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'astonished.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of astonish

First Known Use

1716, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of astonished was in 1716

Dictionary Entries Near astonished

Cite this Entry

“Astonished.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astonished. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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