- present participle of surprise.
surprising
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of surprising
Explanation
Surprising things are completely unexpected—they astonish or startle you. It would be surprising for most of us to get a phone call from the Queen of England. Unless you suspected your friend was planning something, the surprise party she throws for your birthday will be surprising. Things that are surprising take you aback or even confuse you a little bit. The adjective surprising comes from surprise, via the Old French sorprendre, "to overtake or seize." The original meaning of surprise party was a stealth military action.
Vocabulary lists containing surprising
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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.
A surprising winner has emerged amid the ad industry’s AI-fueled drive for efficiency: almost ostentatiously handcrafted creative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
“A surprising number of people on X think we should take AI rights seriously.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
But a surprising winner has emerged amid the drive for AI efficiency: studios that specialize in the laborious work of handcrafting ads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
When researchers examined where the species belonged on the evolutionary family tree, they uncovered a surprising result.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2026
This is more and more surprising by the minute.
From "Zara’s Rules for Record-Breaking Fun" by Hena Khan
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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.
