astounding
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of astounding
Explanation
Astounding is an adjective that describes something bewildering, like the astounding sight of a dog walking on two legs. When something is astounding, you might find yourself unable to speak — after all, astounding comes from the Middle English word astouned, meaning "to stun." If you see something that's astounding, you might just stare and stare, speechless. Astounding also describes something so surprisingly impressive that it overwhelms, like the astounding news that you just won the lottery.
Vocabulary lists containing astounding
30 GRE Words Beginning with "A"
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Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865)
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Wolf Hollow
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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.
With hundreds of millions of dollars being pumped into the ecosystem at once, and ad-makers earning astounding sums of cash for their quick work, you’re going to get a lot of slop.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
AEW, likewise, has seen an astounding number of early deaths in its seven years of existence.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Alan Greenspan was chairman for an astounding 18½ years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
But the 23-year-old's lack of match fitness appeared to finally catch up with him in a high-octane encounter filled with breathless exchanges and astounding displays of athleticism.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
His persistence in the face of mulishness was astounding.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
