astounding

• IPA^(key): /əˈstaʊndɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -aʊndɪŋ

astounding

1. present participle and gerund of astound

astounding (comparative more astounding, superlative most astounding)

1. That astounds or astound.

   Synonyms: amazing, extraordinary, fantastic, incredible, marvelous, miraculous, phenomenal, remarkable, unbelievable; see also Thesaurus:surprising

   astounding success    an astounding spectacle

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], “The Prologue”, in Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN:

     [Y]ou ſhall heare the Scythian Tamburlaine: / Threatning the world with high aſtounding tearms / And ſcourging kingdomes with his conquering ſword.

   • 1802, Dante Alighieri, “Canto VII”, in Henry Boyd, transl., The Divina Commedia of Dante Alighieri: Consisting of the Inferno—Purgatorio—and Paradiso. Translated into English Verse,  In Three Volumes, volume I (Inferno), London: Printed by A Strahan, ; for T Cadell, Jun. and W Davies, , →OCLC, stanza XVIII, page 152:

     Wasted in darkness down the pitchy wave, / We saw the Stygian pool her borders lave, / Fed by th’ astounding cataract on high.

   • 1854, Charles Dickens, “A Loophole”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, , →OCLC, book the first (Sowing), page 14:

     Signor Jupe […] was also to exhibit "his astounding feat of throwing seventy-five hundred-weight in rapid succession backhanded over his head, thus forming a fountain of solid iron in mid-air, a feat never before attempted in this or any other country […]."

   • 1930, Dashiell Hammet, “The Emperor’s Gift”, in The Maltese Falcon, New York, N.Y., London: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 148:

     This is going to be the most astounding thing you’ve ever heard of, sir, and I say that knowing that a man of your caliber in your profession must have known some astounding things in his time.