flabbergasted
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
When you see your mom come back from the salon with bright green spiky hair and your jaw drops to the floor in total shock, you’re flabbergasted. You are really, really shocked — pretty much speechless. Use the adjective flabbergasted to describe someone who's astounded or surprised for any reason, good or bad. You could be flabbergasted at how astonishingly expensive a parking ticket is, or at how incredibly delicious pineapple pizza is. Flabbergasted has been used since the late 18th century, but no one knows for sure where it originated. The word sounds like what it means: when you say it out loud — "flabbergasted!" — it somehow captures the spirit of astonishment and shock.
Vocabulary lists containing flabbergasted
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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.
Flabbergasted by the discovery, he called the police in the nearby city of Poznan, the BBC reported.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2025
Flabbergasted, Anka says he immediately contacted his lawyers, who happened to also represent Jackson.
From Fox News • Aug. 25, 2021
Flabbergasted by Sakurada’s comments, Imai responded, “I find it unbelievable that someone who is responsible for cybersecurity measures has never used a computer.”
From Slate • Nov. 15, 2018
Flabbergasted in Colorado: Telling a friend to “wipe herself down” in the restroom is rude.
From Washington Post • Jun. 2, 2016
Flabbergasted, he sent a note to the expedition leader explaining that the newspaper had no intention of pulling Vernon and Shorey from the story and that the journalists had been ordered to rejoin the expedition.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
