Link Centre Dictionary

surprise

surp·rise

UK/sə(ː)ˈpɹaɪ̯z/ US/sɚˈpɹaɪ̯z/ very common
verb (3) noun (3)

verb

1.

cause to be surprised

  • “The news really surprised me”
2.

come upon or take unawares

  • “She surprised the couple”
  • “He surprised an interesting scene”
3.

attack by storm; attack suddenly

Synonyms

noun

1.

the astonishment you feel when something totally unexpected happens to you

2.
3.

the act of surprising someone

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English surprise, borrowed from Middle French surprise (“an overtake”), nominal use of the past participle of Old French sorprendre (“to overtake”), from sor- (“over”) + prendre (“to take”), from Latin super- + Latin prendere, contracted from prehendere (“to grasp, seize”). Doublet of suppli.

Phrases

  • come as no surprise
  • element of surprise
  • October surprise
  • principle of least surprise
  • quel surprise
  • Surprise Bay
  • surprise lily
  • surprise party

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.