From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Astonishing \As*ton"ish*ing\, adjective Very wonderful; of a nature to excite astonishment; as, an astonishing event.
Syn: Amazing; surprising; wonderful; marvelous. {As*ton"ish*ing*ly}, adverb -- {As*ton"ish*ing*ness}, noun
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Astonish \As*ton"ish\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Astonished}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Astonishing}.] [OE. astonien, astunian, astonen, OF. estoner, F. ['e]tonner, fr. L. ex out + tonare to thunder, but perhaps influenced by E. stun. See {Thunder}, {Astound}, {Astony}.]
1. To stun; to render senseless, as by a blow. [Obs.]
Enough, captain; you have astonished him. [Fluellen had struck Pistol]. --Shak.
The very cramp-fish [i. e., torpedo] . . . being herself not benumbed, is able to astonish others. --Holland.
2. To strike with sudden fear, terror, or wonder; to amaze; to surprise greatly, as with something unaccountable; to confound with some sudden emotion or passion.
Musidorus . . . had his wits astonished with sorrow. --Sidney.
I, Daniel . . . was astonished at the vision. --Dan. viii. 27.
Syn: To amaze; astound; overwhelm; surprise.
Usage: {Astonished}, {Surprised}. We are surprised at what is unexpected. We are astonished at what is above or beyond our comprehension. We are taken by surprise. We are struck with astonishment. --C. J. Smith. See {Amaze}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: surprising greatly; "she does an amazing amount of work"; "the dog was capable of astonishing tricks" [syn: {amazing}]
2: so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm; "such an enormous response was astonishing"; "an astounding achievement"; "the amount of money required was staggering"; "suffered a staggering defeat"; "the figure inside the boucle dress was stupefying" [syn: {astounding}, {staggering}, {stupefying}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
42 Moby Thesaurus words for "astonishing": amazing, appalling, astounding, breathtaking, confounding, conspicuous, egregious, electrifying, exceptional, extraordinary, eye-opening, fabulous, fantastic, formidable, incredible, jarring, jolting, marked, marvelous, mind-boggling, miraculous, notable, noteworthy, noticeable, of mark, outstanding, overwhelming, prodigious, remarkable, shocking, signal, spectacular, staggering, startling, striking, stunning, stupendous, superior, surprising, uncommon, wonderful, wondrous
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