different between astonishment vs amazement

English

Etymology

From astonish +? -ment.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??st?n??m?nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??st??n??m?nt/

Noun

astonishment (countable and uncountable, plural astonishments)

1. The feeling or experience of being astonished; great surprise.

   Synonyms: amazement, stupefaction, wonder, wonderment

   • 1630, John Milton, “On Shakespear” in Poems of Mr. John Milton, London: Ruth Raworth, 1645 p. 27,^[1]

     Thou in our wonder and astonishment

     Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.

   • 1726, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, London: Benjamin Motte, Volume 2, Part 3, Chapter 7, p. 98,^[2]

     […] he dismissed all his Attendants with a turn of his Finger; at which, to my great astonishment, they vanished in an Instant, like Visions in a Dream, when we awake on a sudden.

   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, London: for the author, Volume 3, Chapter 1, p. 14,^[3]

     At these words, Marianne’s eyes expressed the astonishment, which her lips could not utter.

   • 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Boston: L.C. Page, Chapter 3, p. 41,^[4]

     Marilla’s astonishment could not have been greater if Matthew had expressed a predilection for standing on his head.

   • 2004, Andrea Levy, Small Island, London: Review, Chapter 33, p. 330,^[5]

     Imagine my astonishment when, reaching the bustling street, every Englishwoman I look on is also attired in a dowdy housecoat.

2. Something very surprising.

   Synonyms: marvel, stunner (colloquial)

   • 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 9, p. 444,^[6]

     To find Ned Silverton among the habitual frequenters of Mrs. Hatch’s drawing-room was one of Lily’s first astonishments;

   • 1964, Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Puffin, 1998, Chapter 18, p. 83,^[7]

     Everything he had seen so far — the great chocolate river, the waterfall, the huge sucking pipes, the candy meadows, the Oompa-Loompas, the beautiful pink boat, and most of all, Mr. Willy Wonka himself — had been so astonishing that he began to wonder whether there could possibly be any more astonishments left.

3. (obsolete) Loss of physical sensation; inability to move a part of the body.

   Synonyms: paralysis, numbness

   • 1583, Philip Barrough, The Method of Phisicke, London: Thomas Vautroullier, Book 3, Chapter 37, p. 126,^[8]

     […] there followeth astonishment of the leg that is neere, that it can neither be stretched out right, nor he cannot go on his feet.

   • 1634, Philemon Holland (translator), The Historie of the World, London: Adam Islip, Book 29, Chapter 5, p. 363,^[9]

     […] whosoever maketh water in the same place where a dog hath newly pissed, so as both vrines be mingled together, shall immediatly find a coldnesse and astonishment in his loines,

4. (obsolete) Loss of mental faculties, inability to think or use one's senses.

   Synonym: stupor

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 60.3,^[10]

     Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.

   • 1678, Aphra Behn, The Lives of Sundry Notorious Villains, London: for the author, Chapter 2, p. 30,^[11]

     Upon the Stage he so charmed the people into astonishment with his babble, that he made them buy off amain his Drugs;

5. (obsolete) Loss of composure or presence of mind.

   Synonyms: consternation, dismay

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonby, Book 1, Canto 3, pp. 35-36,^[12]

     […] where of his cruell rage

     Nigh dead with feare, and faint astonishment,

     Shee found them both in darkesome corner pent;

   • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, London: Andrew Crooke, Chapter 46, p. 374,^[13]

     […] as when a man ignorant of the Ceremonies of Court, comming into the presence of a greater Person than he is used to speak to, and stumbling at his entrance, to save himselfe from falling, lets slip his Cloake; to recover his Cloake, lets fall his Hat; and with one disorder after another, discovers his astonishment and rusticity.

Related terms

• astonish
• astonished
• astonishing

Translations

English

Etymology

amaze +? -ment

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??me?z.m?nt/
• Rhymes: -e?zm?nt

Noun

amazement (countable and uncountable, plural amazements)

1. (uncountable) The condition of being amazed; a state of overwhelming wonder, as from surprise or sudden fear, horror, or admiration; astonishment.
2. (countable, archaic) A particular feeling of wonder, surprise, fear, or horror.
   • 1682, Samuel Willard, The fiery tryal no strange thing, Samuel Sewell, Boston, p. 16,

     Were believers thoroughly persuaded of what God meaneth, by these things, they would not be so liable to those frights and amazements which distract and disturb them.

   • 1791, "Character of the faithful Man," in Aphorisms concerning the Assurance of Faith, W. Young, Philadelphia, p. 60,

     In the midst of ill rumours and amazements, his countenance changeth not.
3. (countable, dated) Something which amazes.
   • 1918, Christopher Morley, "The Urchin at the Zoo," in Mince Pie,

     I believe the Urchin showed more enthusiasm over the stone and the robin than over any of the amazements that succeeded them.

4. (obsolete) Madness, frenzy.

Translations

References

• Webster, Noah (1828) , “amazement”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language
• amazement in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “amazement” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "amazement" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002)
• "amazement" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)