surprise
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The astonishment you feel when something totally unexpected happens to you.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
serpryzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɚpˈɹaɪz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The astonishment you feel when something totally unexpected happens to you
The feeling that something unexpected has happened.
A number of places in the United States
A populated place in Greene County, New York.
A sudden unexpected event
Former name of Surprise Station, California.
verb
transitive
To cause (someone) to feel unusually alarmed or delighted by something unexpected.
Attack by storm; attack suddenly
transitive
To attack unexpectedly.
Come upon or take unawares
intransitive
To undergo or witness something unexpected.
Cause to be surprised
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The astonishment you feel when something totally unexpected happens to you
Used this way, surprise is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use surprise
- “The news really surprised me.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment.
Causing surprise or wonder or amazement.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An attack without warning.
Not surprised or expressing surprise.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.