surprise

noun sur·prise \ sər-ˈprīz , sə- \

variants: or less commonly surprize

Updated on: 13 Apr 2018

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

But to scientists’ delight, the latest ichthyosaur fossil had a surprise inside: it was preserved while carrying up to eight babies.

— julissa treviño, Smithsonian, "Fossilized ‘Sea Monster’ Found Pregnant With Eight Babies," 10 Apr. 2018
Fans of instrumental metal generally have a fondness for jumpcut surprises, technical wizardry, feats of musical mastery and other flourishes that tend toward the prog and art-rock side of things.

— john adamian, courant.com, "Buckethead To Play The Warehouse," 7 Apr. 2018
Another surprise: in Tulsa, the school district’s superintendent, Deborah Gist, supports the striking teachers.

— valerie strauss, Washington Post, "Those unseemly teachers’ strikes," 6 Apr. 2018
The move was met with surprise, confusion and even anger by current and former players, as well as fans, alumni and some members of the media.

— peter dawson, star-telegram, "UTA basketball set a single-season wins record in 2016; the program still lost over $1 million | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 4 Apr. 2018
Miss Now that Fixer Upper Is Ending Tuesday’s episode was bittersweet but full of fun surprises, including a special guest by Mike Herrera, the frontman for MxPx, and his wife, Holli.

— alexia fernandez, PEOPLE.com, "Chip & Joanna Gaines Give a Last Farewell on Fixer Upper Finale: 'I'm Not Crying, You're Crying'," 4 Apr. 2018
It’s no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg, when facing criticism of Facebook’s dissemination of fake news and divisive stories, announced that the company would be emphasizing local news stories in its News Feed.

— alex shephard, The New Republic, "The Local News Crisis Is Bigger Than Sinclair," 3 Apr. 2018
That came as another surprise, since astronomers have long thought that most galaxies contain black holes.

— NBC News, "This weird galaxy has astronomers rethinking a key theory," 3 Apr. 2018
The impact on you at home: While the specs here aren’t much of a surprise, an Android phone with a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage is certainly exciting.

— michael simon, PCWorld, "OnePlus 6 specs revealed: Snapdragon 845, 256GB of storage to go with its notch," 3 Apr. 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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

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

This statistic is likely to surprise many Premier League fans - especially seeing as Morata has had a relatively disappointing season by his high standards, scoring 11 league goals and setting up six.

— SI.com, "Surprising Statistic Shows Just How Profitable One Chelsea Double Act Has Been This Season," 9 Apr. 2018
The results probably won’t surprise march supporters (including AAAS, which publishes ScienceInsider) and those who have followed the effort.

— jeffrey mervis, Science | AAAS, "Got data? Survey of 2017 March for Science doesn’t make the grade," 9 Apr. 2018
This is a very long range forecast, but the way this spring has gone, nothing would surprise me.

— dave epstein, BostonGlobe.com, "More snow and cold coming this weekend," 6 Apr. 2018
Krishnamoorthi said he was surprised at the amount of interest in such issues as Russia's interference in the election process and special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the situation.

— rafael guerrero, Elgin Courier-News, "Congressmen tell Elgin Community College students, 'Your generation has power'," 3 Apr. 2018
In news that probably won't surprise anyone, Meghan Markle's wedding to Prince Harry could cost as much as $45 million, and one publication has the sums to prove why.

— amy mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Wedding Could Cost $45 Million," 31 Mar. 2018
His emergence as a crucial role player surprised some Indiana fans.

— zach osterman, Indianapolis Star, "Zach McRoberts' role for IU basketball is greater than anyone imagined," 29 Mar. 2018
Together will not especially surprise anyone familiar with creator Emily Kapnek, whose Suburgatory evolved from a suburban satire into an astute sitcom about the many different ways families can look and function.

— caroline framke, Vox, "Zach Braff and Jenna Fischer return to TV in 2 new ABC comedies. Only 1 works.," 28 Mar. 2018
Just Sunday night, Harry surprised fans with the debut of two new songs when opening the show in Switzerland.

— avery matera, Teen Vogue, "Harry Styles Releases New Tour Merch in Paris," 13 Mar. 2018

First Known Use of surprise

15th century

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