astonishment
noun
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Definition of astonishment
1a : 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
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Synonyms for astonishment
Synonyms
admiration, amazement, awe, wonder, wonderment
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Examples of astonishment in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And the astonishment of imponderable Donald Trump presides. — Lance Morrow, WSJ, "Political Harassment Is for the Birds," 6 July 2018 His expression was the same I’d seen on my brothers’ faces that day at the rancher’s fence, a mix of wonder, astonishment and primal fear. — Peter Gwin, WSJ, "The Horses That Changed History," 19 June 2018 To my astonishment, the 10 or so Argentinians joined the fun. — Pete Grathoff, kansascity, "This is what the World Cup coming to KC would look like, and why it would be such fun," 17 June 2018 To his astonishment, among them were a great number of women. — Longreads, "The Roaring Girls of Queer London," 8 May 2018 Among other astonishments here are numerous gorgeous plasters—penciled, incised and painted. — Lance Esplund, WSJ, "‘Giacometti’ Review: Beyond a Retrospective," 19 June 2018 At the time, however, Gen. Hays’s promotion was greeted with astonishment from some quarters and derision from others. — Harrison Smith, Washington Post, "Anna Mae Hays, nurse who became U.S. military’s first female general, dies at 97," 8 Jan. 2018 To his astonishment, their system seems to be performing well. — Steven Levy, WIRED, "Inside Palmer Luckey’s Bid to Build A Border Wall," 11 June 2018 Airmen expressed astonishment over the fact that Lindbergh, facing 17 hours of continuous night and day flying, spent 30 minutes engaged in mimic air battle with naval aviators. — sandiegouniontribune.com, "May 11, 1927: Lindbergh winging his way from San Diego to Paris," 11 May 2018These 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.
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More Definitions for astonishment
astonishment
noun
English Language Learners Definition of astonishment
: a feeling of being very surprised
See the full definition for astonishment in the English Language Learners Dictionary
astonishment
noun
\
Kids Definition of astonishment
: great surprise or wonder : amazement We watched in astonishment.
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