List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 387

SYNONYMS: surprise, astonish, amaze, astound, dumbfound, flabbergast.
These verbs mean to affect a person strongly as being unexpected or unusual.

To surprise is to fill with often sudden wonder or disbelief as being unanticipated or out of the ordinary: Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
Astonish suggests overwhelming surprise: The sight of such an enormous crowd astonished us.
Amaze implies astonishment and often bewilderment: The violinist's virtuosity has amazed audiences all over the world.
Astound connotes shock, as from something unprecedented in one's experience: We were astounded at the high cost of traveling in Japan.
Dumbfound adds to astound the suggestion of perplexity and often wordlessness: His denial that he had witnessed the accident dumbfounded me.
Flabbergast is used as a more colorful equivalent of astound, astonish, or amaze: They were flabbergasted at the results.