astonishment

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noun as·ton·ish·ment \ ə-ˈstä-nish-mənt \

Definition of astonishment

1 a :a feeling of great surprise and wonder :the state of being astonished :amazement

The garden's beauty filled me with astonishment.

b :consternation

2 :something that astonishes :a cause of amazement or wonder

Everything that he had seen so far … had been so astonishing that he began to wonder whether there could possibly be any more astonishments left.
—Roald Dahl

See astonishment defined for English-language learners

Examples of astonishment in a Sentence

The garden's beauty filled me with astonishment.
A crowd watched in astonishment as he jumped from the bridge.
They discovered to their astonishment that their car had been stolen.
Much to the astonishment of her friends and family, she left school to pursue her acting career.

Recent Examples of astonishment from the Web

Christopher Meyers, brother of the defendant and son of the victim, also expressed his astonishment.

— ken daley, NOLA.com, "Gentilly man stops trial, pleads guilty to killing father with AK-47," 19 July 2017
A video shared Friday by the agency shows a widespread mudslide — with cars buried to the wheel-wells in muck — as observers express astonishment.

— alex demarban, Alaska Dispatch News, "Mudslide threatens lodge as heavy rain continues across much of Alaska," 8 July 2017
In 2009, in an act that engendered astonishment and rage among scholars, Mr. Zukofsky escalated prevailing tensions by posting a manifesto on Z-site, the official online companion to Louis Zukofsky’s work.

— margalit fox, New York Times, "Paul Zukofsky, Virtuoso Violinist and Literary Executor, Dies at 73," 20 June 2017
Elspeth Levy had no choice but to walk around the block in her wedding finery, hike up her train, and climb over the patio fence as her guests gaped in astonishment.

— mary carole mccauley, baltimoresun.com, "Centuries of Jewish wedding traditions on display in Jewish Museum of Maryland exhibit," 16 June 2017
Johnson's lawyer, Robert Pickering of Hartford, expressed astonishment that police charged Johnson in the shooting in the first place.

— david owens, courant.com, "State Drops Shooting Case After Victim Changes Story," 5 June 2017
Rival networks have indeed been looking at what Netflix and, to a lesser extent, Amazon, have been doing, and their reactions range from outright envy to astonishment to abject anger.

— glenn whipp, latimes.com, "Netflix and Amazon redefine Emmy campaigning: Now you need to give voters an experience," 19 May 2017
Caleb Brown, a postdoctoral researcher at the museum, grins at my astonishment.

— travis m. andrews, chicagotribune.com, "‘Rare as winning the lottery’: New dinosaur fossil so well-preserved it looks like a statue," 12 May 2017
To Cole’s astonishment, the prime suspect threatened to join the militia during his interrogation.

— Washington Post, "US company turned blind eye to wild behavior on Iraq base," 3 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'astonishment.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.