I.
noun
1 feeling of surprise
ADJECTIVE
▪ great , total , utter
▪ mild , slight , some
▪ initial
▪
After the initial ~ I got to like the place.
▪ mock
▪
His eyebrows rose in mock ~.
▪ genuine , real
VERB + SURPRISE
▪ express , register , show
▪ feign
▪
He feigned ~ when I went up and said hello.
▪ hide
▪
She was quick to hide her ~.
▪ cause
▪
The president's remarks caused ~ and embarrassment.
PREPOSITION
▪ in ~
▪
‘Walk twenty miles!’ repeated the old man in ~.
▪ to sb's ~
▪
Much to her ~, she enjoyed the party.
▪ with ~ , without ~
▪
It was with some ~ that I read of his resignation.
▪ ~ at
▪
She showed no ~ at the news.
PHRASES
▪ an expression of ~ , a look of ~
▪
I could not believe the look of ~ on his face.
▪ a gasp of ~ , a scream of ~ , a shriek of ~
▪ the element of ~
▪
The Egyptian team relied on the element of ~ to defeat their stronger opponents.
▪ catch sb by ~ , take sb by ~
▪
The storm took us completely by ~.
▪ imagine my ~ when …
▪
Imagine my ~ when I found out he wasn't really a doctor.
▪ surprisesurprise ( humorous )
▪
Bob turned up half an hour late, surprise surprise.
2 sth that you did not expect
ADJECTIVE
▪ big , complete , genuine , great , huge , major , real , total
▪ unexpected
▪ lovely ( esp. BrE ), nice , pleasant , wonderful
▪ nasty , unpleasant , unwelcome
▪ little
▪
I have a little ~ for you!
VERB + SURPRISE
▪ be , come as
▪ get , have
▪
I had a wonderful ~ when I saw Mark there.
▪ give sb , spring
▪
Johnson sprung a ~ by winning the first round.
▪ be in for
▪
Your mother's in for a bit of a ~ when she gets home.
▪ ruin , spoil
SURPRISE + NOUN
▪ announcement , appearance , party , visit
▪ hit , victory , win
▪ defeat
▪ attack
▪
They launched a ~ attack on the Russian fleet.
▪ winner
▪
Roach was the ~ winner of the £10 000 first prize.
▪ guest
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ for
▪
It was a complete ~ for me.
▪ ~ to
▪
His refusal came as no ~ to his boss.
PHRASES
▪ a bit of a ~ , quite a ~
▪ hold few, many, no, etc. ~s
▪
She feels that the future holds few ~s.
II.
verb
ADVERB
▪ greatly , really
▪ not at all
▪
The outcome did not ~ me at all.
▪ hardly
▪ a little , slightly
VERB + SURPRISE
▪ wouldn't
▪
It wouldn't ~ me if they got married.
▪ seem to
▪ want to
▪
They wanted to ~ their mother and get the breakfast ready.
Surprise is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑ move
Surprise is used with these nouns as the object: ↑ observer