How to Use astonishment in a Sentence

astonishment

noun
  • A crowd watched in astonishment as he jumped from the bridge.
  • Much to the astonishment of her friends and family, she left school to pursue her acting career.
  • They discovered to their astonishment that their car had been stolen.
  • The garden's beauty filled me with astonishment.
  • To the astonishment of the cops, this time the patrons fought back.
    Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2021
  • There were a few hugs and high-fives amid the astonishment.
    Bro Krift, The Indianapolis Star, 13 May 2022
  • Over the past year my reaction to Covid news from the U.S. has been one of astonishment.
    WSJ, 22 Aug. 2021
  • Hjerson, to Klara’s astonishment and glee, is a huge fan of Klara’s work.
    John Anderson, WSJ, 29 Nov. 2022
  • To their astonishment, the box opened to reveal a trove of centuries-old gold coins.
    Nora McGreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Sep. 2021
  • Entering the world of the great apes leaves you with a feeling of astonishment.
    The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Mar. 2022
  • To my astonishment, the same tone echoed back from a wooden molding in the classroom.
    Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 May 2022
  • To the research team’s astonishment, the white blood cell count of the rabbits dropped to zero or points very close to zero.
    Jennet Conant, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Aug. 2020
  • For most of the video’s more-than-10-minute duration, Lengyel’s mouth was agape in astonishment.
    Washington Post, 6 Aug. 2021
  • And in this world, women are shown to be subservient to men, much to the puzzlement of Barbie and the pleased astonishment of Ken.
    Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 July 2023
  • The themes were tones and feelings [about] the ever increasing astonishment at how crazy the world is.
    Billboard Staff, Billboard, 14 Mar. 2022
  • To their astonishment, a voice screamed back from someplace far off.
    Gregory Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Dec. 2022
  • The deer regarded me as a god would, eased by my astonishment.
    Ama Codjoe, The New York Review of Books, 4 May 2023
  • To their astonishment, the researchers found 30 distinct gears: 27 in the largest fragment and one each in three others.
    Tony Freeth, Scientific American, 15 Dec. 2021
  • The palette is an astonishment, a dusty rainbow of hues.
    Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 15 June 2023
  • Even now, Pettis looks back on shows of the early aughts and their lack of diverse casting with a bit of astonishment.
    Michelle Lee, Peoplemag, 25 June 2023
  • But to their astonishment, there hadn’t been an update for nearly a month.
    Author: Mary Beth Sheridan, Anchorage Daily News, 3 May 2021
  • Basking in the eerie glow of a total solar eclipse has been described as what pure astonishment feels like.
    Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 30 Jan. 2024
  • And to the astonishment of staff at the university's library, on March 9, the notebooks were returned.
    NBC News, 5 Apr. 2022
  • To my astonishment, Vin wrote back on Dodger stationery.
    Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2022
  • One stepped forward to peer around the cockpit, before shouting in astonishment that there was no man there.
    Lucia Cheng, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Aug. 2022
  • Sweatshirt paused, expressing a bit of astonishment at how many people had turned out for the event.
    New York Times, 14 Mar. 2022
  • The stunned witnesses expressed their astonishment at the sight before them in the 25-second video.
    Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 4 Feb. 2024
  • At the end, Drake revealed himself to the astonishment of the interviewees.
    Maria Yagoda, Peoplemag, 31 Mar. 2023
  • His expression, which was something akin to gleeful astonishment, seemed to sum up the mood of many in England at the moment.
    Washington Post, 11 July 2021
  • The former staffers expressed astonishment to me at LaPierre’s claims under oath.
    Mike Spies, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'astonishment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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