wonder

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Surprise or admiration or its cause

Nouns

1. wonder, wonderment, marvel, miracle, miraculousness, astonishment, amazement, bewilderment; amazedness, admiration, awe; stupor, stupefaction; fascination; surprise. See unintelligibility, secret.

2. sensation, phenomenon, marvel, prodigy; eighth wonder. Slang, lollapalooza.

Verbs

1. wonder, marvel, admire; be surprised, start; stare, open or rub one's eyes; gape, hold one's breath; look or stand aghast, stand in awe of; not believe one's eyes, ears, or senses.

2. be wonderful, beggar or baffle description; stagger belief.

3. surprise, astonish, startle, shock, take aback, electrify, stun, stagger, bewilder.

Adjectives

1. wonderful, wondrous; miraculous; surprising, unexpected, unheard of; mysterious, indescribable, inexpressible, ineffable; unutterable, unspeakable; monstrous, prodigious, stupendous, marvelous; inconceivable, incredible; unimaginable, strange, uncommon, passing strange, striking, overwhelming. Slang, out of sight, hellacious, fantastic.

2. surprised, aghast, agog, breathless, agape; openmouthed; awestruck, thunderstruck; round-, wide-, or large-eyed; spellbound; speechless, at a loss [for words]; lost in amazement, wonder, or astonishment; unable to believe one's senses. Slang, bug-eyed.

Adverbs — wonderfully, fearfully; for a wonder; strange to say, mirabile dictu, to one's great surprise; with wonder.

Interjections — lo! lo and behold! O! what! wonder of wonders! will wonders never cease! what will they think of next!

Phrases — wonder is the beginning of wisdom.

Quotations — Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, inquiry the process, ignorance the end (Montaigne), Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder (Plato), Philosophy begins in wonder, and at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains (AlfredNorth Whitehead), Wonder is the basis of worship (Thomas Carlyle), Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science (Ralph Waldo Emerson), America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement (Alexis de Tocqueville), O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful! and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping! (Shakespeare), Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man (Sophocles), A man is a small thing, and the night is very large and full of wonders (Lord Dunsany).

Antonyms, see expectation.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Amazement]

Syn. surprise, awe, stupefaction, admiration, wonderment, astonishment, wondering, stupor, bewilderment, perplexity, puzzlement, fascination, consternation, perturbation, confusion, shock, start, jar, jolt, incredulity.

2. [A marvel]

Syn. miracle, curiosity, oddity, rarity, freak, phenomenon, phenom*, sensation, prodigy, act of God, portent, wonderwork, rara avis (Latin), nonpareil, spectacle, perversion, prodigious event, something unnatural, the unbelievable.

v.

1. [To marvel]

Syn. be surprised, be startled, be fascinated, be amazed, be dumbfounded, be confounded, be dazed, be awestruck, be astonished, be agape, be dazzled, stand aghast, stand in awe, look aghast, be struck by, be unable to take one's eyes off, admire, gape, be taken aback, stare, be flabbergasted*.

2. [To question]

Syn. be curious, query, hold in doubt; see question 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. astonishment amazement, wonderment, awe, fascination, enchantment, surprise. The root of knowledge.''—Abraham Heschel. The seed of our science.''— Ralph Waldo Emerson.

2. marvel miracle, phenomenon, spectacle, curiosity, rarity, sight, *mind-blower, *mind-boggler, oddity, freak occurrence, freak of nature.

II

v.

1. marvel be awestruck, be fascinated, gawk, gape, stare saucer-eyed, disbelieve one's eyes, be amazed, be astonished, be stunned.

2. to be curious question, ponder, think about, speculate, doubt, deliberate, puzzle over, meditate.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. One that evokes great surprise and admiration: astonishment, marvel, miracle, phenomenon, prodigy, sensation, stunner, wonderment. Idioms: one for the books, the eighth wonder of the world. See GOOD. 2. The emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring or astounding: amaze, amazement, astonishment, awe, marvel, wonderment. Archaic: admiration, dread. See EXCITE, FEELINGS. 3. An event inexplicable by the laws of nature: miracle. See SUPERNATURAL. 4. A lack of conviction or certainty: doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubiousness, incertitude, mistrust, question, skepticism, suspicion, uncertainty. See CERTAIN. II verb 1. To have a feeling of great awe and rapt admiration: marvel. See EXCITE, FEELINGS. 2. To be uncertain, disbelieving, or skeptical about: distrust, doubt, misdoubt, mistrust, question. Idiom: have one's doubts. See CERTAIN.