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.
Susan Jordan, who single-handedly runs the California Coastal Protection Network out of her kitchen in Santa Barbara, was somewhere between flabbergasted and apoplectic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Some video game fans are flabbergasted at Sony's decision to discontinue disc sales from 2028 at Germany's Gamescom trade show -- leading to calls for a boycott.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
"We were flabbergasted really that we, both as healthy adults and relatively young parents, would have a poorly child."
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
Sarah Paulson was briefly flabbergasted by the word following her around, but now jokes about it and embraces it.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
Harry, Ron, Crabbe, and Goyle stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
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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.
