(~s, surprising, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is an unexpected event, fact, or piece of news.
I have a ~ for you: We are moving to Switzerland!...
It may come as a ~ to some that a normal, healthy child is born with many skills...
It is perhaps no ~ to see another 60s singing star attempting a comeback.
N-COUNT: oft N to n
•
Surprise is also an adjective.
Baxter arrived here this afternoon, on a ~ visit...
ADJ: ADJ n
2.
Surprise is the feeling that you have when something unexpected happens.
The Foreign Office in London has expressed ~ at these allegations...
‘You mean he’s going to vote against her?’ Scobie asked in ~...
I started working hard for the first time in my life. To my ~, I found I liked it.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
If something ~s you, it gives you a feeling of ~.
We’ll solve the case ourselves and ~ everyone...
It ~d me that a driver of Alain’s experience should make those mistakes...
It wouldn’t ~ me if there was such chaos after this election that another had to be held...
They were served lamb and rosemary and she ~d herself by eating greedily.
VERB: V n, it V n that/if, it V n that/if, V pron-refl
4.
If you ~ someone, you give them, tell them, or do something pleasant that they are not expecting.
Surprise a new neighbour with one of your favourite home-made dishes.
VERB: V n with n
5.
If you describe someone or something as a ~, you mean that they are very good or pleasant although you were not expecting this.
...Senga MacFie, one of the ~s of the World Championships three months ago...
N-COUNT
6.
If you ~ someone, you attack, capture, or find them when they are not expecting it.
Marlborough led his armies across the Rhine and ~d the French and Bavarian armies near the village of Blenheim.
VERB: V n
7.
see also ~d , surprising
8.
If something takes you by ~, it happens when you are not expecting it or when you are not prepared for it.
His question took his two companions by ~...
PHRASE: V inflects