flabbergast
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of flabbergast
Explanation
To flabbergast is to shock, awe, bowl over. For something to flabbergast you, it ought to leave you sputtering in amazement. The word flabbergast dates back to 1772, but its origin is unknown. Perhaps its creator had in mind both being aghast and the sputtering sound made by people who are so amazed, they can barely speak. To flabbergast is to shock, so some events that might flabbergast you include winning the lottery, hearing that your best friend and his family moved to Switzerland yesterday without telling you, or getting stuck in a snowstorm in April in Texas.
Vocabulary lists containing flabbergast
The Infinite Questions of Dottie Bing
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What Stars Are Made Of
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Novel Study: Untwine, Chapters 1–23
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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.
