astound

astound — verb

1. to leave a person feeling so amazed or shaken that they cannot easily react, usu

1.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to leave a person feeling so amazed or shaken that they cannot easily react, usually because something is far beyond what they expected.

Example

The young pianist's flawless performance astounded the judges at the Warsaw competition.

transitive: astound + somebody

Mei was astounded by how cheap the apartments in the old harbour district were.

passive: be astounded by + noun

Common collocations
  • absolutely astound
  • completely astound
  • never fail to astound
  • astound the audience
  • astound the world
Synonyms
  • amaze

    everyday register; less intense — wonder without the shock element

  • astonish

    near-synonym; slightly softer, more about surprise than being stunned

  • stun

    emphasises being momentarily unable to speak or move

  • dumbfound

    stronger; the person is left speechless, often used in writing

Antonyms
  • bore

    opposite reaction — no interest stirred at all

  • underwhelm

    the result falls short of what was expected

Grammar Patterns

astound + somebody

be astounded by/at + something

be astounded that-clause

Usage Note

Frequently passive (be astounded by/at/to/that). Stronger than 'surprise' — implies the listener or viewer is briefly unable to react. The agent is usually a fact, scale, skill, or revelation, not a person doing an ordinary action.

Common Mistakes

I was astounded with the news.
I was astounded by the news.
use 'by' or 'at' after the passive, not 'with'.
The teacher astounded angrily at the class.
The teacher was astonished at the class.
'astound' is transitive only; it cannot describe the subject's own emotion without an object.

Word family

  • astounded
    adjectiveC1
  • astounding
    adjectiveC1
  • astoundingly
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

These five verbs all describe the effect of producing strong surprise, but they sit at different points on a scale of intensity and tone. 'Amaze' is the everyday choice, leaning toward delight or wonder ('the view amazed us'). 'Astonish' is a step up — the surprise has more weight, but the person can still react. 'Astound' goes further: the listener or viewer is briefly unable to take it in, often because the fact is far beyond expectation. 'Stun' emphasises the physical freeze that follows shocking news, good or bad. 'Dumbfound' is the strongest and most literary — the person is left speechless. So you might be amazed by a sunset, astonished by a magic trick, astounded by the size of a galaxy, stunned by a sudden death, and dumbfounded by a totally illogical reply.

astound ↗astonishamaze ↗stun ↗dumbfound

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • never fail to astound
  • continue to astound
  • astound everyone

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Astound comes from Middle English 'astoned' or 'astouned', meaning stunned or made senseless, originally from Old French 'estoner' (to stun, daze) — itself based on Latin roots tied to the idea of being struck by thunder ('ex-' out + 'tonare' to thunder). The same Latin source feeds the related English verbs 'astonish' and 'stun'. Over time the literal sense of being knocked senseless faded, leaving the modern meaning of being overwhelmed by surprise.