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Surprisal

//sə(ɹ)ˈpɹaɪzəl// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A surprise attack or ambush; a sudden or unexpected assault. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "Their chiefe attempts are by Stratagems, trecheries, or surprisals."

  2. 2
    the act of surprising someone wordnet
  3. 3
    A sudden coming-upon someone or something unexpectedly or unawares. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "How to secure the lady from surprisal"

  4. 4
    A surprising event or occurrence. countable, obsolete, uncountable
  5. 5
    The feeling caused by being surprised; surprise, shock, amazement. countable, obsolete, uncountable
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  1. 6
    An information measure as equal in bits (binary digits) to the base-2 log of 1 over the probability, with the result that the number of choices equals 2ⁿ where n is the number of bits. countable, uncountable

Etymology

From surprise + -al. (information measure): Defined by Myron Tribus in the 1961 book Thermostatics and Thermodynamics.

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