surprise
[ ser-prahyz, suh- ]
/ sərˈpraɪz, sə- /
verb (used with object), sur·prised, sur·pris·ing.
noun
Idioms for surprise
- to come upon unawares.
- to astonish; amaze: The amount of the donation took us completely by surprise.
take by surprise,
Origin of surprise
1425–75; (noun) late Middle English < Anglo-French
surpris(
e), Middle French, past participle of
surprendre, equivalent to
sur-
sur-1 +
pris (masculine),
prise (feminine) < Latin
prēnsus,
-sa, equivalent to
prēnd(
ere), contracted variant of
prehendere to take (see
prehension) +
-tus,
-ta past participle suffix; (v.) late Middle English
surprisen < Anglo-French
surpris(
e) (past participle), Middle French, as above
synonym study for surprise
1.
Surprise,
astonish,
amaze,
astound mean to strike with wonder because of unexpectedness, strangeness, unusualness, etc.
To surprise is to take unawares or to affect with wonder:
surprised at receiving a telegram.
To astonish is to strike with wonder by something unlooked for, startling, or seemingly inexplicable:
astonished at someone's behavior.
To amaze is to astonish so greatly as to disconcert or bewilder:
amazed at such an evidence of stupidity.
To astound is to so overwhelm with surprise that one is unable to think or act:
astounded by the news.
historical usage of surprise
The English noun
surprise comes from late Middle English, from Anglo-French and Middle French
surprise(e), a noun use of the past participle of
surprendre “to seize, grasp,” literally, “to overtake," from the French prefix
sur- “excessive, over-,” and the verb
prendre “to take.”
The original 15th-century meaning of the English noun was “an unexpected or sudden attack without warning” (a surprise attack, therefore, was a redundancy). In the 19th century, the term surprise party came into use with two disparate senses: the earlier one was “a body of soldiers prepared to make a sudden, stealthy attack,” which held close to the original sense of surprise; the second, slightly later one was “a party or celebration planned for someone as a surprise,” which of course has survived as the meaning familiar to us today.
The original 15th-century meaning of the English noun was “an unexpected or sudden attack without warning” (a surprise attack, therefore, was a redundancy). In the 19th century, the term surprise party came into use with two disparate senses: the earlier one was “a body of soldiers prepared to make a sudden, stealthy attack,” which held close to the original sense of surprise; the second, slightly later one was “a party or celebration planned for someone as a surprise,” which of course has survived as the meaning familiar to us today.
OTHER WORDS FROM surprise
sur·pris·ed·ly [ser-prahy-zid-lee, -prahyzd-, suh-] /sərˈpraɪ zɪd li, -ˈpraɪzd-, sə-/, adverb sur·pris·er, noun su·per·sur·prise, noun un·sur·prised, adjectiveWords nearby surprise
surplus,
surplus value,
surplusage,
surprint,
surprisal,
surprise,
surprise party,
surprise symphony,
surprising,
surra,
surratt
Example sentences from the Web for unsurprised
British Dictionary definitions for unsurprised (1 of 2)
unsurprised
/ (ˌʌnsəˈpraɪzd) /
adjective
not feeling amazement or wonder
British Dictionary definitions for unsurprised (2 of 2)
surprise
/ (səˈpraɪz) /
verb (tr)
noun
Derived forms of surprise
surprisal, noun surprised, adjective surprisedly (səˈpraɪzɪdlɪ), adverb surpriser, nounWord Origin for surprise
C15: from Old French, from
surprendre to overtake, from
sur-
1 +
prendre from Latin
prehendere to grasp; see
prehensile
Idioms and Phrases with unsurprised
surprise
see take by surprise.