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.
Little-Pengelly said she finds it "astounding that people haven't been talking about that for the last 20 years".
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Stocks bottomed that March, down an astounding 56%, and began a relentless rally that was only upended, however briefly, by the Covid pandemic.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
From the beginning of 2025 through this March, “derivative income” funds, which include these options-driven strategies, have taken in an astounding $71 billion of new money, according to Morningstar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
The astounding discovery that could link Eastern and Western medicine.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
“It’s rather astounding that you still have a job,” Chuck Muckle remarked.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
