amazing

amazing — adjective

1. extremely good and likely to make people admire or enjoy it.

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

extremely good and likely to make people admire or enjoy it.

Example

You did an amazing job fixing Grandma's old radio.

an amazing job collocation

The noodles taste amazing with lime and fresh herbs.

linking verb: taste amazing

Common collocations
  • amazing job
  • amazing meal
  • amazing show
  • amazing weekend
  • taste amazing
Synonyms
  • excellent

    slightly calmer and more suitable in formal evaluation

  • fantastic

    very informal and excited in tone

  • wonderful

    warmer and more personal; often stresses pleasure

  • superb

    strong and approving, with a polished tone

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

an amazing + noun

look amazing

sound amazing

taste amazing

Usage Note

Very common in everyday speech for enthusiastic praise, especially with food, trips, performances, people, and experiences. Distinguish from sense 2: here the main idea is quality, not unexpected surprise.

Common Mistakes

The band played amazing.
The band played amazingly.
after a verb, use the adverb when you mean 'in an amazing way'.

2. so surprising or striking that it fills you with wonder.

2.adjectiveB1
Definition

so surprising or striking that it fills you with wonder.

Example

It was amazing that no one on the bus was hurt.

it is amazing that + clause

An amazing light appeared above the lake at midnight.

amazing + noun for a striking sight

Common collocations
  • amazing discovery
  • amazing fact
  • amazing story
  • amazing sight
  • it is amazing that ...
Synonyms
  • astonishing

    stronger and slightly more formal; often used for facts or results

  • remarkable

    can sound calmer; stresses that something stands out

  • unbelievable

    focuses on how hard something is to believe

  • surprising

    weaker and more neutral; does not always suggest wonder

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

it is amazing that + clause

an amazing + noun

Usage Note

Often used for facts, events, sights, or abilities that seem hard to believe. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense points to strong surprise or wonder, while sense 1 is mainly straightforward praise.

Common Mistakes

I was amazing by the news.
I was amazed by the news.
'amazing' describes the thing that causes surprise; 'amazed' describes the person's feeling.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

These words all praise something, but they do not feel exactly the same. 'Amazing' is lively, strong, and very common in speech, so people use it for food, trips, music, or people they really like. 'Excellent' is a little calmer and suits formal comments, school reports, or customer feedback. 'Fantastic' is more excited and informal than 'excellent'. 'Wonderful' sounds warmer and often carries personal happiness or affection. 'Impressive' focuses less on pleasure and more on skill, size, or effect. You might call a cake amazing, a student's work excellent, a concert fantastic, a holiday wonderful, and a rescue plan impressive.

amazing ↗excellent ↗fantastic ↗wonderful ↗impressive ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • amazing thing
  • amazing story
  • amazing result
  • amazing experience

Adverbs

  • absolutely amazing
  • really amazing
  • truly amazing
  • quite amazing

Phrases

  • find something amazing
  • what an amazing ...
  • seem amazing

Prepositions

  • amazing to (someone)

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

Amazing comes from the verb 'amaze'. That verb goes back to Old English 'amasian', which first meant to confuse or stun someone so much that they could not think clearly. It is linked to the same old idea behind 'maze', where a person loses their way. Later, English softened the meaning from frightened confusion to the modern sense of strong surprise and admiration.