sur·prise | \ sər-ˈprīz 
, sə- \
, sə- \variants:
or less commonly surprize
Definition of surprise
(Entry 1 of 3)
1a : an attack made without warning
b : a taking unawares
2 : something that surprises
3 : the feeling caused by something unexpected or unusual
surprise
verbvariants:
or less commonly surprize
surprised also surprized; surprising also surprizing
Definition of surprise (Entry 2 of 3)
1 : to attack unexpectedly also : to capture by an unexpected attack
2a : to take unawares
Police surprised the burglars in the store.
b : to detect or elicit by a taking unawares
… sometimes surprised a tragic shadow in her eyes.— Willa Cather
3 : to strike with wonder or amazement especially because unexpected
His conduct surprised me.
: to cause astonishment or surprise
Her success didn't surprise.
Surprise
geographical nameSur·prise | \ sər-ˈprīz \
\Definition of Surprise (Entry 3 of 3)
city in south central Arizona west of Phoenix population 117,517
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Synonyms for surprise
Synonyms: Noun
Synonyms: Verb
- amaze,
- astonish,
- astound,
- bowl over,
- dumbfound
- (also dumfound),
- flabbergast,
- floor,
- rock,
- shock,
- startle,
- stun,
- stupefy,
- thunderstrike
Examples of surprise in a Sentence
Noun
What a pleasant surprise to see you!
It's no surprise that he doesn't want to go.
Is it any surprise that she should feel disappointed?
The teacher sprang a surprise on us and gave a pop quiz.
I have a special surprise for the children.
The trip was a surprise for her birthday.
Is the party a surprise?
Imagine our surprise when they sold their house and moved to the Bahamas.
He stared at her in surprise. Verb
The results will surprise you.
Nothing you could say would surprise me.
They surprised everyone by moving to the Bahamas.
A police officer surprised the burglars.
The troops were surprised by an attack from the north.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The Borowitz Report)—In an early-morning victory statement that took many in the N.F.L. by surprise, the Cincinnati Bengals have declared themselves the winners of next February’s Super Bowl.
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Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, "Cincinnati Bengals Announce That They Have Won Super Bowl," 4 Nov. 2020 Kedon Slovis won't catch anybody by surprise the second time around at Southern California.
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Greg Beacham, Star Tribune, "USC QB Slovis adds muscle, maturity before sophomore season," 3 Nov. 2020 President Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 304-227 in the Electoral College in 2016 in what took many pundits and pollsters by surprise.
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Jerry Dunleavy, Washington Examiner, "Election 2020: DHS confident US voters will decide outcome, not foreign adversaries," 3 Nov. 2020 The Tigers had the benefit of taking some teams by surprise last season.
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Matthew Vantryon, The Indianapolis Star, "Indiana high school girls basketball season preview: Our Insider's preseason Fab 15," 3 Nov. 2020 Again, though, this domino effect should not catch the Council of Presidents and Chancellors by surprise.
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Nathan Baird, cleveland, "Could the Big Ten season still collapse from coronavirus concerns? College Football Monday Madness," 2 Nov. 2020 Things begin to trend in his direction, taking him and his campaign by surprise.
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Ben Flanagan | Bflanagan@al.com, al, "Movies about elections: 11 that have our vote," 2 Nov. 2020 The fervor for Trump's candidacy among the religious right took some by surprise.
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Shayna Freisleben, CBS News, "White evangelical support for Trump goes beyond his policies, supporters and historians say," 2 Nov. 2020 When the infected are close to you, there's also a clicking sound that can take you by surprise.
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Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, "Here's Everything You Need to Know About the New PS5 Controller," 2 Nov. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb And the youth Mistletoe Market will surprise and delight you.
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Joan Rusek, cleveland, "Just like that, the holiday shopping season begins: Valley Views," 2 Nov. 2020 Lichtenfeld says many of the pieces on display contain Easter eggs that will surprise viewers.
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Jennifer Nalewicki, Smithsonian Magazine, "Artist Fashions Nike Air Jordan 5s From Trash," 28 Oct. 2020 None of this will surprise an admirer of the Dream Songs.
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Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, "The Heartsick Hilarity of John Berryman’s Letters," 12 Oct. 2020 This won't surprise anyone who has noticed firms like Walmart Labs sponsoring open source technology conferences and delivering presentations.
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Jim Salter, Ars Technica, "Sourcegraph: Devs are managing 100x more code now than they did in 2010," 1 Oct. 2020 These and other actions increase the risk that new diseases will surprise and devastate us again.
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The Editors, Scientific American, "Scientific American Endorses Joe Biden," 14 Sep. 2020 There is a redemptive and touching finale that will pleasantly surprise, though.
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Lindsey Bahr, Detroit Free Press, "‘Unpregnant’ is a teen road movie with personality," 11 Sep. 2020 There is a redemptive and touching finale that will pleasantly surprise, though.
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Lindsey Bahr, Star Tribune, "Review: 'Unpregnant" is a teen road movie with personality," 9 Sep. 2020 One of your family members may surprise you before the week is done.
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Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, "Horoscope for Oct. 25, 2020: Libra; misunderstanding triggers breakup; Capricorn, don’t force the issue," 25 Oct. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'surprise.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Learn More about surprise
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
October Surprise
October Surprise
The surprising history of an election buzzword
Dictionary Entries near surprise
See More Nearby EntriesStatistics for surprise
Last Updated
10 Nov 2020
Look-up Popularity
Cite this Entry
“Surprise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surprise. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.
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More Definitions for surprise
surprise
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of surprise
(Entry 1 of 2)
: an unexpected event, piece of information, etc.
: an unexpected gift, party, etc.
: the feeling caused by something that is unexpected or unusual
surprise
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of surprise (Entry 2 of 2)
: to cause (someone) to feel surprised
: to find, attack, or meet (someone or something) unexpectedly
See the full definition for surprise in the English Language Learners Dictionary
surprise
nounsur·prise | \ sər-ˈprīz , sə-ˈprīz \
, sə-ˈprīz \Kids Definition of surprise
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : something that is unexpected
I have a surprise for you.
2 : astonishment, amazement … it held up to them a little white object. They all looked at it in surprise …— C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
3 : an act or instance of coming upon without warning
They were taken by surprise.
surprise
verbsurprised; surprising
Kids Definition of surprise (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : to cause to feel wonder or amazement because of being unexpected
Her resemblance to her father surprised me.
2 : to come upon without warning
The robbers were surprised by police.
3 : to attack without warning : capture by an unexpected attack
surprise
nounsur·prise
Legal Definition of surprise
1 : a condition or situation in which a party to a proceeding is unexpectedly placed without any fault or neglect of his or her own and that entitles the party to relief (as a new trial)
2 : an aspect of procedural unconscionability that consists of hiding a term of a contract in a mass of text
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The first known use of surprise was in the 15th century
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