astonished

American

[uh-ston-isht] / əˈstɒn ɪʃt /

adjective

filled with sudden and overpowering surprise or wonder; amazed.

Before the eyes of the astonished crowd, the magician pulled off everything from simple card tricks to the disappearance of his lovely assistant.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of astonish.

Other Word Forms

astonishedly adverb
unastonished adjective

Etymology

Origin of astonished

First recorded in 1510–20, for an earlier sense; astonish + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective sense; astonish + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

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.

They were also astonished to discover a massive, vertical sinkhole called a blue hole, 75km south of a bank called Grand Turk, that formed when a cave collapsed inwards.

From BBC

Almost five years had passed since the peddler’s spirit raps had first astonished the country.

From Literature

Grospiron for his part said he was "astonished" by a question from a senator as to whether he would also be resigning.

From Barron's

Americans are likely be astonished at how grievances from centuries ago seem like fresh insults.

From The Wall Street Journal

“I was astonished,” Mr. Solomon writes, “to see how extensive and serious the plans for human space exploration had become.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023