Flabbergast

//ˈflæbə(ˌ)ɡɑːst// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An awkward person. countable
  2. 2
    Overwhelming confusion, shock, or surprise. uncountable

    "His flabbergast was so great he couldn’t even come up with a plausible answer."

Verb
  1. 1
    To overwhelm with bewilderment; to amaze, confound, or stun, especially in a ludicrous manner. transitive

    "He was flabbergasted to find that his work had been done for him before he began."

  2. 2
    overcome with amazement wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
amazeastonishastoundawebewilderbowl over

Example

More examples

"He was flabbergasted to find that his work had been done for him before he began."

Etymology

The origin of the verb is uncertain; possibly dialectal (Suffolk), from flabby or flap (“to strike”) + aghast. The word may be related to Scottish flabrigast (“to boast”) or flabrigastit (“worn out with exertion”). The noun is derived from the verb.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.