ASTONISHING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does astonishing mean? 

• ASTONISHING (adjective)
  The adjective ASTONISHING has 2 senses:

1. surprising greatly

2. so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm

  Familiarity information: ASTONISHING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASTONISHING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Surprising greatly

Synonyms:

amazing; astonishing

Context example:

the dog was capable of astonishing tricks

Similar:

surprising (causing surprise or wonder or amazement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

So surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm

Synonyms:

astonishing; astounding; staggering; stupefying

Context example:

the figure inside the boucle dress was stupefying

Similar:

impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)

 Context examples 

The Orfling met me here sometimes, to be told some astonishing fictions respecting the wharves and the Tower; of which I can say no more than that I hope I believed them myself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Your eyebrows have become as thick as my finger, and your forehead resembles what, in some very astonishing poetry, I once saw styled, 'a blue-piled thunderloft.'

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen, it was astonishing how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Around black holes there might exist planetary systems of astonishing scale.”

(Thousands of Planets Could Be Orbiting around Black Holes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

"What we found is astonishing: introgression even among species that are distantly related. 'Species' are simply not what we thought they were, and now we have the data to show that."

(Study reveals surprising amount of gene flow among butterfly species, National Science Foundation)

With astonishing luck, these energetic cancer stem cells are color-coded which means they have a natural phosphorescent glow, making them easy to identify and target.

(‘Energetic Cancer Cells’ May Be Origin of Cancer Spread, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“The regularity and despatch of it! If one thinks of all that it has to do, and all that it does so well, it is really astonishing!”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

M. Waldman inflicted torture when he praised, with kindness and warmth, the astonishing progress I had made in the sciences.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Really! Well, this is very astonishing!—no relationship!—no connection between them!—and now that livings fetch such a price!—what was the value of this?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

When one thinks of it, how astonishing a variety of nature!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)