astonishing
Use Astonishing in a sentence
ɪ adjective
causing astonishment or surprise; amazing: an astonishing victory; an astonishing remark.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used with object)
to fill with sudden and overpowering surprise or wonder; amaze: Her easy humor and keen intellect astonished me.
Origin:
1525–35; Middle English astonyen, astonen, probably < dialectal Old French *astoner, Old French estoner < Vulgar Latin *extonāre, for Latin attonāre to strike with lightning, equivalent to ex- ex-1, at- at- + tonāre to thunder; extended by -ish2, perhaps reflecting Anglo-French *astonir < dialectal Old French
1525–35; Middle English astonyen, astonen, probably < dialectal Old French *astoner, Old French estoner < Vulgar Latin *extonāre, for Latin attonāre to strike with lightning, equivalent to ex- ex-1, at- at- + tonāre to thunder; extended by -ish2, perhaps reflecting Anglo-French *astonir < dialectal Old French
Related forms
as·ton·ished·ly, adverb
as·ton·ish·er, noun
su·per·as·ton·ish, verb
un·as·ton·ished, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To astonishing
00:10
Astonishing
is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
astonish (əˈstɒnɪʃ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| (tr) to fill with amazement; surprise greatly | |
| [C15: from earlier astonyen (see | |
| astonishing (əˈstɒnɪʃɪŋ) | |
| —adj | |
| causing great surprise or amazement; astounding | |
| a'stonishingly | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
astonish
mid-14c., astonien, from O.Fr. estoner "to stun, daze, deafen, astound," from V.L. *extonare, from L. ex- "out" + tonare "to thunder" (see thunder); so, lit. "to leave someone thunderstruck." The modern form (influenced by English verbs in -ish, e.g. distinguish, diminish)
is attested from c.1530. Related: Astonishment.
"No wonder is thogh that she were astoned" [Chaucer, "Clerk's Tale"]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Example sentences
We have an astonishing capacity not to see things in our midst.
The astonishing part was the parade of senior faculty members offering condolences for the outcome.
But duck skin has such an astonishing capacity for holding.
And the body of the observatory is the ice itself, an abundant medium with an astonishing natural clarity.
Matching Quote
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
