Astonishing

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Astonishing \As*ton"ish*ing\, a.
     Very wonderful; of a nature to excite astonishment; as, an
     astonishing event.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Amazing; surprising; wonderful; marvelous.


          [1913 Webster] {As*ton"ish*ing*ly}, adv. --
          {As*ton"ish*ing*ness}, n.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Astonish \As*ton"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Astonished}; p. pr.
     & vb. n. {Astonishing}.] [OE. astonien, astunian, astonen,
     OF. estoner, F. ['e]tonner, fr. L. ex out + tonare to
     thunder, but perhaps influenced by E. stun. See {Thunder},
     {Astound}, {Astony}.]
     1. To stun; to render senseless, as by a blow. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Enough, captain; you have astonished him. [Fluellen
              had struck Pistol].                   --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The very cramp-fish [i. e., torpedo] . . . being
              herself not benumbed, is able to astonish others.
                                                    --Holland.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To strike with sudden fear, terror, or wonder; to amaze;
        to surprise greatly, as with something unaccountable; to
        confound with some sudden emotion or passion.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Musidorus . . . had his wits astonished with sorrow.
                                                    --Sidney.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I, Daniel . . . was astonished at the vision. --Dan.
                                                    viii. 27.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: To amaze; astound; overwhelm; surprise.
  
     Usage: {Astonished}, {Surprised}. We are surprised at what is
            unexpected. We are astonished at what is above or
            beyond our comprehension. We are taken by surprise. We
            are struck with astonishment. --C. J. Smith. See
            {Amaze}.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  astonishing
       adj 1: surprising greatly; "she does an amazing amount of work";
              "the dog was capable of astonishing tricks" [syn: {amazing}]
       2: so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm; "such an
          enormous response was astonishing"; "an astounding
          achievement"; "the amount of money required was
          staggering"; "suffered a staggering defeat"; "the figure
          inside the boucle dress was stupefying" [syn: {astounding},
           {staggering}, {stupefying}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  42 Moby Thesaurus words for "astonishing":
     amazing, appalling, astounding, breathtaking, confounding,
     conspicuous, egregious, electrifying, exceptional, extraordinary,
     eye-opening, fabulous, fantastic, formidable, incredible, jarring,
     jolting, marked, marvelous, mind-boggling, miraculous, notable,
     noteworthy, noticeable, of mark, outstanding, overwhelming,
     prodigious, remarkable, shocking, signal, spectacular, staggering,
     startling, striking, stunning, stupendous, superior, surprising,
     uncommon, wonderful, wondrous