SURPRISINGLY

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.

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surprising (səˈpraɪzɪŋ)

—*adj*
	causing surprise; unexpected or amazing

sur'prisingly

—*adv*

sur'prisingness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

surprise

mid-15c., "unexpected attack or capture," from M.Fr. surprise "a taking unawares," from noun use of pp. of O.Fr. surprendre "to overtake," from sur- "over" + prendre "to take," from L. prendere, contracted from prehendere "to grasp, seize" (see prehensile). Meaning "something

unexpected" first recorded 1590s, that of "feeling caused by something unexpected" is c.1600. Meaning "fancy dish" is attested from 1708.

"A Surprize is ... a dish ... which promising little from its first appearance, when open abounds with all sorts of variety." [W. King, "Cookery," 1708]

The verb is from late 15c. Surprise party originally was a military detachment (1841); festive sense is attested from 1858. Related: Surprising; surprisingly.

Example sentences

Yet many pilot projects run so far have shown that junior staff can often be

surprisingly good forecasters.

All have or have had followings within the party, whose core of committed

voters is surprisingly small.

The plot is surprisingly complicated and no drugs are involved.

Not surprisingly, people in richer countries live longer than do people in poor

countries.

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Matching Quote

"When the excessively shy force themselves to be forward, they are frequently surprisingly unsubtle and overdirect and even rude: they have entered an extreme region beyond their normal personality, an area of social crime where gradations don't count; unavailable to them are the instincts and taboos that booming extroverts, who know the territory of self-advancement far better, can rely on."

-Nicholson Baker