surprise

noun sur·prise \ sər-ˈprīz , sə- \

variants: or less commonly surprize

Updated on: 11 Sep 2017

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

Some will provide a surprise or two, but most will be lopsided tuneups for the name-brand schools.

— Washington Post, "Week 1 preview: ‘Bama-FSU; Action Jackson; Sumlin vs Mora," 31 Aug. 2017
Rolling back these restrictions isn’t a surprise move from Trump who reportedly wanted tanks to march beside him on inauguration day.

— talmon joseph smith, GQ, "The Trump Administration Reinstated the Pipeline That Gives Local Police Military Weapons," 30 Aug. 2017
Some of the ramp closures caught drivers by surprise.

— tony bizjak, sacbee, "Good news, drivers. Your Highway 50 headaches are about to end.," 30 Aug. 2017
The teams at the top of the all-division poll should be no surprise.

— mark stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Prep soccer: Area teams dominate overall state ranking," 29 Aug. 2017
Wildcats are surprise winners of the West, but Buckeyes take care of business to finish 13-0.

— Detroit Free Press, "College football: Predicting season, Heisman watch, freshmen to watch," 29 Aug. 2017
The North's launch over Japan shouldn't be a total surprise.

— The Christian Science Monitor, "North Korea's unprecedented missile test draws ire of Trump and Abe," 29 Aug. 2017
Sparsely populated Namibia delivers lots of surprises for safari-goers »

— terri colby, chicagotribune.com, "Camels, casbahs and more make for a magical visit to Morocco," 28 Aug. 2017
To her surprise, Wierbicki recognized herself in a photo that Greco brought to Middlewoods.

— amanda morris, Courant Community, "92-Year-Old Former Teammates Reconnect At Newington Assisted Living Facility," 25 Aug. 2017

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

Related Words

shock, thunderclap; eye-opener, revelation, shocker; amazement, marvel, wonder; fillip, kick, kicker, twist, wrinkle

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

The results surprised Oliver Bosch, a biologist at the University of Regensburg in Germany, who was not involved with the new study.

— andrea marks, Scientific American, "Why Some Mice Seem to Make Bad Parents," 26 June 2017
Most young NFL fans probably don’t know this—and the details certainly surprised this millennial reporter—but the uprights were on the goal line until 1974.

— emily kaplan, The MMQB, "The History of NFL Goal Posts: Excitement & Danger," 21 June 2017
Second Lady Karen Pence surprised the vice president with the new dog, an Australian Shepherd, on Father's Day.

— AL.com, "Two teen girls from Alabama and Mississippi reported missing," 19 June 2017
Related Articles The Rangers’ presence in the last game of the high school season is surprising from the outside.

— jace frederick, Twin Cities, "State baseball: Seniors carry Forest Lake into Class 4A title game," 18 June 2017
The 6-foot-6 New Albany High shooting guard said he wasn't surprised.

— fletcher page, The Courier-Journal, "Romeo Langford says he's still considering Louisville after NCAA sanctions," 18 June 2017
One developer investigated, and his findings may surprise you.

— don reisinger, Fortune, "Apple CEO Tim Cook Talks Trump as Apple Car Comes Into Focus," 17 June 2017
There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time.

— lydia price, PEOPLE.com, "Time for Change: 14 Powerful Stories of Hollywood Sexism," 12 June 2017
That health care could move votes in this race — even if not enough to swing it — wouldn’t surprise Geoff Garin at Hart Research Associates.

— ryan grim, The Intercept, "Russia Is On TV, But Health Care Was The Central Issue In Montana’s Election," 26 May 2017

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

Related Words

befuddle, bewilder, blindside, blow away, confound, confuse, daze, discomfit, disconcert, dismay, jar, muddle, nonplus, perplex, shake up

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