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[ adjective ] causing surprise or wonder or amazement
Examples "the report shows a surprising lack of hard factual data" "leaped up with surprising agility" "she earned a surprising amount of money" Used in print (Bonnie Prudden, "The Dancer and the Gymnast"...)This is n't surprising when we consider that over 29 percent of the 11 - year old boys in America cannot chin themselves once , and that English school_girls outdo them in almost every test ( even dashes and endurance ) . (Clifford H. Pope, The Giant Snakes....)The best way to determine the correct figure ( in captives ) is by direct observation of pairs isolated from birth , a method that produced surprising results : maturing of a male Indian_python in less_than two years , his mate in less_than three ; data on the boa_constrictor about match this . (Edwin L. Bigelow and Nancy H. Otis,...)The Manchester_Journal commented editorially on the surprising amount of local telegraphic business . (J. H. Hexter, "Thomas More: On the Margins...)Secondly , to find a learned diversion and a pleasing joke in More 's account of the stupid brutalities of early sixteenth century wars , of the anguish of the poor and dispossessed , of the insolence and cruelty of the rich and powerful requires a callousness toward suffering and sin that would be surprising in a moral imbecile and most surprising in More himself . Secondly , to find a learned diversion and a pleasing joke in More 's account of the stupid brutalities of early sixteenth century wars , of the anguish of the poor and dispossessed , of the insolence and cruelty of the rich and powerful requires a callousness toward suffering and sin that would be surprising in a moral imbecile and most surprising in More himself . Related terms unsurprising startling amazing unexpected stunning unexpected |
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[ noun ] the act of surprising someone
Used in print (Arthur Miller, "The Prophecy," in The Best...)Now she kept herself protectively ready to laugh again and sure_enough he pointed at her with his index_finger and said `` Toot '' ! once_more and roared_off into the fog , his foot evidently surprising him with the suddenness with which it pressed the accelerator , just as his hand did when he worked . Related terms |
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