Astonishing
[ə'stɒnɪʃɪŋ] or [ə'stɑnɪʃɪŋ]
Definition
(adj.) so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm; 'such an enormous response was astonishing'; 'an astounding achievement'; 'the amount of money required was staggering'; 'suffered a staggering defeat'; 'the figure inside the boucle dress was stupefying' .
Checked by Charlie--From WordNet
Definition
(p. pr. & vb. n.) of Astonish
(a.) Very wonderful; of a nature to excite astonishment; as, an astonishing event.
Typist: Pansy
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Amazing, wondrous, surprising, wonderful, striking, marvelous
ANT:Foreseen, unamazed, common, {astonished_at_nothing}, ordinary, natural, usual,everyday, trite
Editor: Tod
Examples
- When one thinks of it, how astonishing a variety of nature! Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- The most extraordinary thing about the man was, that he was contorting his face into the most fearful and astonishing grimaces that ever were beheld. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- An astonishing number of men always _are _getting disappointed there. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen, it was astonishing how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Of this edition, up to the present period (1858), the astonishing number of TWELVE MILLIONS OF SHEETS have been issued, the weight of which amounts to upwards of 335 tons! Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- Waldman inflicted torture when he praised, with kindness and warmth, the astonishing progress I had made in the sciences. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Under these circumstances it is not astonishing that many of the regiments broke at the first fire. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- How Jane could bear it at all, was astonishing to Emma. Jane Austen. Emma.
- It was altogether such an astonishing event to see her do it! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- It is an astonishing fact that nine-tenths of the so-called maple sugar and maple syrup sold as the genuine articles are nothing more than clever imitations. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- Is it not astonishing that there were no printed copies distributed? H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Though it's astonishing how much those thorough-bred creatures can do and suffer. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Have you not heard the astonishing intelligence regarding her surreptitious union? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- In one picture a still more astonishing appearance was produced, by the change of the interior of a beautifully painted and decorated church into a mass of charred ruins. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- If one thinks of all that it has to do, and all that it does so well, it is really astonishing! Jane Austen. Emma.
- Through the beaming smile with which he regarded me as he reasoned thus, there now broke forth a look of disinterested benevolence quite astonishing. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The diversity of the breeds is something astonishing. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- What further improvement may still be made in the use of this astonishing power it is impossible to know, and it were vain to conjecture. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The scarcity of such people is astonishing. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- And there he remained so long saying, Astonishing at intervals, so often, that I began to think his senses were never coming back. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- It was an astonishing break in the French career of victory. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Any one who has a taste for drawing, and a little ingenuity, may thus produce many pleasing and astonishing effects. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- Well, this is very astonishing! Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Imagination can figure nothing so grand, so surprising, and so astonishing! Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- And it would be astonishing to find how soon the change is felt if we had no kindred changes to compare with it. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- They will help us to understand better the astonishing irrelevance of the political life of this period to the realities that rose about it. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But if we are blind to the beauties of truth, it is astonishing that we should not open our eyes to the inconvenience of falsity. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- We stood ready to count the astonishing clatter of reverberations. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- What was scarcely less astonishing to me, was, that his affairs were in a most disordered state. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
Editor: Tod