to strike or occur to with a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness: Her beauty surprised me.
to come upon or discover suddenly and unexpectedly: We surprised the children raiding the cookie jar.
to make an unexpected assault on (an unprepared army, fort, person, etc.).
to elicit or bring out suddenly and without warning: to surprise the facts from the witness.
to lead or bring unawares, as into doing something not intended: to surprise a witness into telling the truth.
noun
an act or instance of surprising or being surprised.
something that surprises someone; a completely unexpected occurrence, appearance, or statement: His announcement was a surprise to all.
an assault, as on an army or a fort, made without warning.
a coming upon unexpectedly; detecting in the act; taking unawares.
Idioms for surprise
take by surprise,
to come upon unawares.
to astonish; amaze: The amount of the donation took us completely by surprise.
Origin of surprise
First recorded in 1425–75; (noun) late Middle English, from Anglo-French surpris(e), Middle French, past participle of surprendre, equivalent to sur- sur-1 + pris (masculine), prise (feminine), from Latin prēnsus, -sa, equivalent to prēndere, contracted variant of prehendere “to take” (see prehension) + -tus, -ta past participle suffix; (verb) late Middle English surprisen, from Anglo-French surpris(e) (past participle), Middle French, as above
synonym study for surprise
1. Surprise,astonish,amaze,astound mean to strike with wonder because of unexpectedness, strangeness, unusualness, etc. To surprise is to take unawares or to affect with wonder: surprised at receiving a telegram.To astonish is to strike with wonder by something unlooked for, startling, or seemingly inexplicable: astonished at someone's behavior.To amaze is to astonish so greatly as to disconcert or bewilder: amazed at such an evidence of stupidity.To astound is to so overwhelm with surprise that one is unable to think or act: astounded by the news.
historical usage of surprise
The English noun surprise comes from late Middle English, from Anglo-French and Middle French surprise(e), a noun use of the past participle of surprendre “to seize, grasp,” literally, “to overtake," from the French prefix sur- “excessive, over-,” and the verb prendre “to take.” The original 15th-century meaning of the English noun was “an unexpected or sudden attack without warning” (a surprise attack, therefore, was a redundancy). In the 19th century, the term surprise party came into use with two disparate senses: the earlier one was “a body of soldiers prepared to make a sudden, stealthy attack,” which held close to the original sense of surprise; the second, slightly later one was “a party or celebration planned for someone as a surprise,” which of course has survived as the meaning familiar to us today.