What does "flabbergaster" mean?

A person, thing, fact or event that is flabbergasting, or that causes extreme shock.

What is a synonym for "flabbergaster"?

Common synonyms include: baffle, baffound, bedevil, befuddle, bewilder, confound.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A person, thing, fact or event that is flabbergasting, or that causes extreme shock.
"Nothing on earth so delights the Mexican heart as a real flabbergaster of a funeral."
2
A state of surprise or fear.

Verb

1
To perplex or amaze; to shock or frighten archaic
"Jack, among his friends, had raised money sufficient to fee an Old Bailey counsel, who, by blustering and cross-examination, succeeded in so flabbergastering the simple witnesses for the prosecution, that the prisoner was in a fair way of being acquitted; […]"

"Nothing on earth so delights the Mexican heart as a real flabbergaster of a funeral."

From flabbergast + -er.

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