Astound

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əˈstaʊnd/

Definitions

1. To evoke a profound sense of surprise or amazement in an individual through extraordinary feats or experiences
2. To inspire awe and astonishment in someone by presenting something remarkably unexpected
3. To cause someone to feel a strong and sudden shock or amazement

Etymology: "Astound" is a shortened form of an older verb, "astony," that once meant the same thing as "astonish." Over time, English speakers dropped the "-ish" and kept the sense of being struck speechless, so "astound" now carries a stronger jolt than its cousin. The root behind this family is a Middle English verb "astonen," built on a prefix "a-" that intensifies a stem meaning to stun or stupefy, the same idea of being stunned that sits at the heart of "stun" itself. The surprising detail is that "astound" began as a past participle. Middle English "astouned," meaning "stunned" or "amazed," was the form that people used to describe someone already struck dumb. Over time that participle was reinterpreted as a verb in its own right, so people could say that something astounded them, and the word came to name the act of stunning someone, not just their state afterward.

Synonyms: astonish, surprise, amaze, shock, startle

Antonyms: bore, calm, unimpress