as in shocks
informal
something that shows or teaches you something in a surprising way
Traveling abroad can be a real eye-opener to many people. They say her biography is quite an eye-opener.
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Recent Examples of eye-openers
These two series are eye-openers about some of the ways people outside our experiences live.
—
Colleen Kujawa, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2026
The closeness in my race and the closeness in the president's race last year were real eye-openers.
—ABC News, 2 Nov. 2025
Beringer noted the speed and physicality of Minnesota’s preseason games have been eye-openers.
—Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 14 Oct. 2025
But under the hood, there are some other eye-openers.
—Tony Blengino, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Colleen Kujawa, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2026
The closeness in my race and the closeness in the president's race last year were real eye-openers.
—ABC News, 2 Nov. 2025
Beringer noted the speed and physicality of Minnesota’s preseason games have been eye-openers.
—Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 14 Oct. 2025
But under the hood, there are some other eye-openers.
—Tony Blengino, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for eye-openers
Noun
-
Shares have edged down more than 2% since the Iran war began, fueled by concerns about rising shipping costs and potential supply shocks.—
Liz Napolitano,
CNBC,
14 Apr. 2026
-
In Southeast Asia, Vietnamese EV maker VinFast is offering discounts to offset fuel price shocks.—
Chan Ho-Him,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
There does not seem to be any political momentum to remove, deactivate or severely limit the devices, unlike in neighboring cities like Mountain View, Santa Cruz, and jurisdictions under the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, following revelations of unauthorized federal access.—
Robert Salonga,
Mercury News,
15 Apr. 2026
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Yet, Knueppel should win because his play immediately helped Charlotte leap from perennially moribund to one of the season’s revelations.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
15 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
There’s surprises, and then there’s surprises.—
Pamela McClintock,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Apr. 2026
-
There are no great surprises from here on out, though the sheer, lusty grossness of the fallout is occasionally startling.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The jolts are muted, the setpieces are drab, and the gore is all too literally kept under wraps.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
16 Apr. 2026
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Then, as the pandemic waned, in 2023 and early ’24, came two jolts to the system – federal pandemic-era assistance ended, pulling food and food-related funding away from charities, and the number of people seeking food continued to grow.—
Andre Mouchard,
Oc Register,
29 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Eye-openers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/eye-openers. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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