astonishment
English edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
astonishment (countable and uncountable, plural astonishments)
- The feeling or experience of being astonished; great surprise.
- Synonyms: amazement, stupefaction, wonder, wonderment
- The class looked on in astonishment as their teacher proceeded to tear the pages out of the textbook.
- 1630, John Milton, “On Shakespear” in Poems of Mr. John Milton, London: Ruth Raworth, 1645 p. 27,[1]
- Thou in our wonder and astonishment
- Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.
- 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV), page 98:
- […] he dismissed all his Attendants with a turn of his Finger; at which, to my great astonishment, they vanished in an Instant, like Visions in a Dream, when we awake on a sudden.
- 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 1, in Sense and Sensibility […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 14:
- At these words, Marianne’s eyes expressed the astonishment, which her lips could not utter.
- 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 3, in Anne of Green Gables[2], Boston: L.C. Page, page 41:
- Marilla’s astonishment could not have been greater if Matthew had expressed a predilection for standing on his head.
- 2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 33, in Small Island[3], London: Review, page 330:
- Imagine my astonishment when, reaching the bustling street, every Englishwoman I look on is also attired in a dowdy housecoat.
- Something very surprising.
- 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth[4], New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 9, p. 444:
- To find Ned Silverton among the habitual frequenters of Mrs. Hatch’s drawing-room was one of Lily’s first astonishments;
- 1964, Roald Dahl, chapter 18, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Puffin, published 1998, page 83:
- Everything he had seen so far — the great chocolate river, the waterfall, the huge sucking pipes, the candy meadows, the Oompa-Loompas, the beautiful pink boat, and most of all, Mr. Willy Wonka himself — had been so astonishing that he began to wonder whether there could possibly be any more astonishments left.
- (obsolete) Loss of physical sensation; inability to move a part of the body.
- 1583, Philip Barrough, The Method of Phisicke[5], London: Thomas Vautroullier, Book 3, Chapter 37, p. 126:
- […] there followeth astonishment of the leg that is neere, that it can neither be stretched out right, nor he cannot go on his feet.
- 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXIX.] 5.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, →OCLC, page 363:
- […] whosoever maketh water in the same place where a dog hath newly pissed, so as both vrines be mingled together, shall immediatly find a coldnesse and astonishment in his loines,
- (obsolete) Loss of mental faculties, inability to think or use one's senses.
- Synonym: stupor
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 60:3:
- Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
- 1678, Aphra Behn, chapter 2, in The Lives of Sundry Notorious Villains[6], London: for the author, page 30:
- Upon the Stage he so charmed the people into astonishment with his babble, that he made them buy off amain his Drugs;
- (obsolete) Loss of composure or presence of mind.
- Synonyms: consternation, dismay
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, pages 35-36:
- […] where of his cruell rage
Nigh dead with feare, and faint astonishment,
Shee found them both in darkesome corner pent;
- 1651, Thomas Hobbes, chapter 46, in Leviathan[7], London: Andrew Crooke, page 374:
- […] as when a man ignorant of the Ceremonies of Court, comming into the presence of a greater Person than he is used to speak to, and stumbling at his entrance, to save himselfe from falling, lets slip his Cloake; to recover his Cloake, lets fall his Hat; and with one disorder after another, discovers his astonishment and rusticity.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
amazement, great surprise
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amazing thing
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References edit
- “astonishment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.