amazement

English

Etymology

amaze +‎ -ment

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈmeɪz.mənt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪzmənt

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.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 9, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.

2. (countable, archaic) A particular feeling of wonder, surprise, fear, or horror.
   • 1682, Samuel Willard, The fiery tryal no strange thing, Boston: Samuel Sewell, page 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.

   • 1853, Charlotte Bronte, chapter 41, in Villette:

     Certain points, crises, certain feelings, joys, griefs and amazements, when reviewed, must strike us as things wildered and whirling.

3. (countable, dated) Something which amazes.
   • 1913, Jack London, chapter 21, in The Valley of the Moon:

     So impossible did it seem that such an amazement of horse-flesh could ever be hers.

   • 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

• amazement in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “amazement”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “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)