- present participle of astound.
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.
It is an astounding turn for a city once known as rapidly growing and notoriously unaffordable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss what this deal signals about the astounding amounts of money being thrown around the relatively niche market of A.I. investment.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
The numbers involved in AI are truly astounding.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
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
Stagehand and Sea- biscuit drove side by side, blazing through a final quarter in 24% seconds, astounding for a distance race.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
