surprise

noun sur·prise \ sər-ˈprīz , sə- \

variants: or less commonly surprize

|Updated on: 16 Aug 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: surprise in a Sentence

Definition of surprise

1 a : an attack made without warning

b : a taking unawares

2 : something that surprises

3 : the feeling caused by something unexpected or unusual

See surprise defined for English-language learners

See surprise defined for kids

Examples of surprise in a Sentence

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.

Recent Examples of surprise from the Web

In the background, Swift’s face is equal parts delight and surprise.

— meagan fredette, refinery29.com, "Thinking Of Getting Engaged? Do It In Front Of Taylor Swift," 14 July 2018
To the team's surprise, the new cells grew successfully, and the mixed membranes were stable.

— prachi patel, Scientific American, "Engineered Microbe Shakes Up the Tree of Life," 13 July 2018
Wood said a magic check-in booth will be located at Main and Jefferson Street beginning at 3 p.m. and surprises await the first 500 participants.

— david sharos, Naperville Sun, "'Party That Shall Not Be Named' returns July 28 to celebrate all things Harry Potter," 13 July 2018
Those looking to relive some of the best moments on Instagram from Miley Cyrus are in for an unfortunate surprise.

— lauren rearick, Teen Vogue, "Miley Cyrus Deletes All Instagram Posts, Including Those with Liam Hemsworth," 13 July 2018
That environment didn’t surprise Boudreaux, especially given his ongoing relationship with the program.

— michael osipoff, Post-Tribune, "No culture shock: Evan Boudreaux fitting right in at Purdue after transfer from Dartmouth," 12 July 2018
The nearly 300 opinions Mr Kavanaugh wrote as an appellate judge contain few surprises.

— The Economist, "Brett Kavanaugh could shape the law for the next 40 years," 12 July 2018
Here are all the Emmy snubs, surprises and storylines to come out of the nominations.

— eliana dockterman, Time, "The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2018 Emmy Nominations," 12 July 2018
There might be a dismantling by Arsenal at the Emirates, or a surprise for Liverpool at Molineux.

— SI.com, "How Jeff Shi and Fosun International Transformed Wolverhampton Wanderers Into a Premier League Side," 12 July 2018

These 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.

Origin and Etymology of surprise

Middle English suppryse exaction, seizure, from Anglo-French sousprise, supprise, from feminine of supris, surpris, suspris, past participle of surprendre & susprendre to capture, take by surprise, from sur- & sus-, suz under + prendre to take — more at prize, sous

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First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

surprise Synonyms

Synonyms

bombshell, jar, jaw-dropper, jolt, stunner;

Related Words

shock, thunderclap;

eye-opener, revelation, shocker;

amazement, marvel, wonder;

Phrases

bolt from the blue (also bolt out of the blue);

surprise

verb

variants: or less commonly surprize

Definition of surprise

surprised also surprized; surprising also surprizing

transitive verb

1 : to attack unexpectedly; also : to capture by an unexpected attack

2 a : 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.

intransitive verb

: to cause astonishment or surprise

Her success didn't surprise.

—

surpriser

noun

See surprise defined for English-language learners

Examples of surprise in a Sentence

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.

Recent Examples of surprise from the Web

But, California racing has been known to surprise you with a lack of common sense.

— john cherwa, latimes.com, "Racing! CHRB ready to tackle Golden Gate issue," 12 July 2018
Her 95th birthday was a cause for a celebration with all 27 family members attending in Florida to surprise her!

— courant.com, "Eunice Fitzgibbon Jackson," 9 July 2018
Perhaps realizing that his time on the show was quickly coming to a close, Chris decided to surprise Becca at her hotel – which seems slightly unsafe, ABC!

— nick schwartz, For The Win, "Bachelorette Power Rankings: Becca finally realizes that Chris is the worst," 3 July 2018
Although each Jurassic movie is fated to essentially repeat the same idea—oh no, dinosaurs!—this new era has come up with ways to surprise, terrify, and inspire, which is enough to keep the heart of the franchise beating.

— josephine livingstone, The New Republic, "We’re Going to Need a Bigger Island," 22 June 2018
Brexit is an excruciatingly complicated proposition—a thicket of regulations and relationships whose complexity seems to surprise everyone involved.

— georgina voss, The Atlantic, "Brexit Could Cripple Britain’s Ports," 20 June 2018
Sinister sleight of hand: The Sacred Riana Magic tricks are supposed to surprise, not scare the daylights out of you, right?

— bill keveney, USA TODAY, "'America's Got Talent:' The 5 craziest auditions, plus that just-too-weird reject," 19 June 2018
The Italian city's Fashion Week is in full swing, and stop number three on the menswear merry-go-round never fails to surprise.

— dan roberts, GQ, "The Best Street Style from Milan Fashion Week Photos," 19 June 2018
And always ready to surprise us with her impeccable style choices, Meghan wore an Oscar de la Renta dress to the wedding, which currently retails for $5,490.

— amy mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "Meghan Markle Just Wore a Flawless Oscar de la Renta Wrap Dress to Princess Diana's Niece's Wedding," 17 June 2018

First Known Use of surprise

15th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

surprise Synonyms

Synonyms

amaze, astonish, astound, bowl over, dumbfound (also dumfound), flabbergast, floor, rock, shock, startle, stun, stupefy;

Phrases

knock for a loop, take aback, take by surprise;

Synonym Discussion of surprise

surprise, astonish, astound, amaze, flabbergast mean to impress forcibly through unexpectedness. surprise stresses causing an effect through being unexpected but not necessarily unusual or novel.

- surprised to find them at home

astonish implies surprising so greatly as to seem incredible.

- a discovery that astonished the world

astound stresses the shock of astonishment.

- too astounded to respond

amaze suggests an effect of bewilderment.

- amazed by the immense size of the place

flabbergast may suggest thorough astonishment and bewilderment or dismay.

- flabbergasted by his angry refusal

Surprise

geographical name Sur·prise \ sər-ˈprīz \

Definition of Surprise

city in south central Arizona west of Phoenix population 117,517

SURPRISE Defined for English Language Learners

surprise

noun

Definition of surprise for English Language Learners

: an unexpected event, piece of information, etc.
: an unexpected gift, party, etc.
: the feeling caused by something that is unexpected or unusual

surprise

verb

Definition of surprise for English Language Learners

: to cause (someone) to feel surprised
: to find, attack, or meet (someone or something) unexpectedly

SURPRISE Defined for Kids

surprise

noun sur·prise \ sər-ˈprīz , sə-ˈprīz \

Definition of surprise for Students

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

verb

Definition of surprise for Students

surprised; surprising

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

Synonym Discussion of surprise

surprise, astonish, and amaze mean to impress forcibly by being unexpected, startling, or unusual. surprise is used when something is unexpected even though it by itself is not startling.

- A sudden storm surprised the hikers.

astonish means to surprise very much with something that is hard or impossible to believe.

- The first airplanes astonished people.

amaze is used when something causes a person to wonder and puzzle over it.

- The magician amazed the children.

Law Dictionary

surprise

noun sur·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