astonish
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Synonym Usage
See surprise.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
astonishsimple
-
astonishessimple
-
have astonishedperfect
-
has astonishedperfect
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am astonishingprogressive
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are astonishingprogressive
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is astonishingprogressive
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have been astonishingperfect progressive
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has been astonishingperfect progressive
Past
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astonishedsimple
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had astonishedperfect
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was astonishingprogressive
-
were astonishingprogressive
-
had been astonishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of astonish
First recorded in 1525–35; Middle English astonyen, astonen, probably from unattested dialectal Old French astoner, Old French estoner, from unattested Vulgar Latin extonāre, for Latin attonāre “to strike with lightning,” equivalent to ex- ex- 1, at- at- + tonāre “to thunder”; extended by -ish 2, perhaps reflecting unattested Anglo-French astonir, from dialectal Old French; see thunder
Explanation
Things that might astonish you: the discovery of life on another planet, a death-defying performance, and the number of dinosaurs a six-year old child can name. To astonish is to amaze and astound. Remember that astonish means more than surprised. It carries with it a feeling of being truly impressed. Astonish derives from the Latin tonare 'thunder.' When you are astonished, you're thunderstruck. If you plan to astonish someone, you might say before hand, "Wait until you see this. It's going to knock your socks off."
Vocabulary lists containing astonish
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Investment in artificial intelligence continues to astonish amid a technological arms race.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025
No matter the general state of the project she was in, Smith never failed to illuminate, astonish and entertain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024
She is now 95 and widowed, and her positivity and determination continue to astonish.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
For a half-century, the German artist Ursula Schultze-Bluhm made work that could astonish viewers.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2023
It used to astonish us that everyone here has so many children: six or eight or nine.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Not particularly exhausted either, which always astonishes me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
What always astonishes me about your letters is their length My God, their length!
From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2025
"Even today, the story of my father and my mother, while giving me much pain, astonishes me still," Blouin said.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2025
The architectural wonder of writer-director Brady Corbet’s 215-minute postwar immigrant epic “The Brutalist” astonishes onscreen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2024
Knowing that they'll grow older as time passes, they'll become old the way Gramps was, with gray hair and a tremble in his step, so much love still in their hearts—this astonishes me.
From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour
The coaches were astonished at how quickly he picked up the playbook.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
He said in a statement that he had been "astonished that such an important story had largely faded from public memory".
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
I will be astonished if they can accomplish what is necessary in 60 days.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
You can see Salonen, who gave Josefowicz the support to be brazen, mouth to her astonished wows!
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
Meg jumped up, looking both proud and shy, but ‘that man’, as Jo called him, actually laughed and said coolly, as he kissed the astonished newcomer, “Sister Jo, congratulate us!”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
In return, he left us a sublime body of work, one that languished in astonishing critical neglect until the mid-19th and early-20th centuries, the result of a dwindling taste for monastic and devotional art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The Baroque artist from Seville painted scenes of monastic stillness in astonishing detail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
In fact, in the last five years, Spain have now won an astonishing 16 world and European titles from under-17 to senior level.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Since then, they have spread into an astonishing range of habitats and lifestyles.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
And it didn’t hurt his wallet either; his work sold an astonishing 30,000 copies.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
