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
-
The worry looming over the economy Earlier this month, Dimon had also warned in his shareholder letter that the war in Iran risks oil and commodity price shocks that could keep inflation sticky and push interest rates higher than the market now expects.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
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The move comes amid regional fallout in the Gulf amid the Iran war, which has triggered one of the worst oil shocks in history.—
Max Zahn,
ABC News,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Lutnick's voluntary closed-door interview comes amid a monthslong procession of powerful people summoned before the committee, many of whom have been subjected to embarrassing revelations in the more than 3 million pages of records known as the Epstein files.—
Graham Kates,
CBS News,
6 May 2026
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In fact, some of your biggest revelations are happening behind the scenes.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
6 May 2026
Noun
-
That was one of the surprises to me.—
Laird Borrelli-Persson,
Vogue,
7 May 2026
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But the surprises weren’t over.—
Kelsey Monstrola,
USA Today,
7 May 2026
Noun
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That week, nobody talked about anything but the lead-up to the big challenge in which Bukele and La Choly would see who could withstand the jolts of that bumpy musical fairground ride, which tries to shake off its passengers.—
Óscar Martínez,
The Dial,
30 Apr. 2026
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The jolts are muted, the setpieces are drab, and the gore is all too literally kept under wraps.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Eye-openers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/eye-openers. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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