It doesn't surprise me.
Source: tatoeba (1330)
Surprise
/səˈpɹaɪz/
Synonyms for "surprise" (224 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (45)
Noun(14 words)
Adjective(4 words)
Verb(1 words)
Strong matches (67)
Noun(13 words)
bombshellsbreak routinedisbeliefeventflabbergastflabbergastationflabbergastmentgeegee wizgive one a startgoshgreat surpriseincidence
Interjection(1 words)
bowl downbowl overbreathbreathless wonderbushwhackcapturecatchcatch off-guardcatch unawarescome atcome down oncome from behindcome upon unexpectedlyconfoundcrack down ondazedazzledescend ondescend upondiscomfit
Show 29 more words
disconcertdiscoverdismaydo the unexpecteddrop in ondumbfounddumbfounderdumbfoundmentearthshakereye openereye-openerfall onfall uponfascinationfazeflabbergastfloorgang up ongo atgo forgrabgraspharryhave athithit like lightningincredulityjokerjolt
Verb(3 words)
Adjective(1 words)
genuine surprise
Related words (112)
Noun(28 words)
joltingjoltsmore than one bargained foroccurrencepeekabooperplexitiesplot turnplot twistraidingshockersshockssideswipingsmack intospringstartlesstupestupefactionsurprisalswitcherootwist
jumpkickerland onlay atlay forlay hands onlay intolight intolimitmarvelmarvelingmugnonplusoverwhelmparalyzeperipeteiaperplexpetrifypitch intopounce upon
Show 54 more words
poundpull up shortpuzzlementrattlerevelationrocksail intoscareseizesense of mysterysense of wonderset onset uponshockshockersneak attackspring a surprisespring uponstaggerstaggererstartlestartlerstrikestrike deadstrike dumbstrike with wonderstunstupefactionstupefysurprisalsurprise attacksurprise endingsurprise packagesurprise partyswanswitchswoop down onswoop down upontaketake abacktake by surprisetake shorttake the offensivetake unawaresthunderboltthunderclapturnunforeseenunheraldedupsetwade intowaylaywonderwonderment
Adjective(2 words)
stunnedunexpected result
Interjection(1 words)
Choosing the right synonym
- Closest matches in this entry: amazement, shock, admiration, alarm, amaze.
- Sentence evidence is available for surprise, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
- Ranking signals come from wiktionary, opengloss, moby, derived_reverse, and related lexical sources.
Synonym selection checklist
- Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
- Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
- Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "surprise".
- Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.
When not to replace "surprise"
Keep "surprise" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Replacement workflow
1. Preserve meaning
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "surprise" intact in the sentence you are editing.
2. Tune tone
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
3. Re-read context
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
Final fit check
After choosing a replacement for "surprise", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "surprise" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
21 entriesShowing 16 of 21 words.
More specific
10 entriesCollocations
10 entriesbig surprisegenuine surprisegreat surprisepleasant surprisesurprise elementsurprise endingsurprise giftsurprise partysurprise testsurprise visit
Inflections
3 entriesDerivations
5 entriesTranslations
165 translations across 64 languages.
Afrikaans
1 entries- verras verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Albanian
1 entries- surprizë noun (something not expected)
Arabic
4 entries- دَهْشَة noun (something not expected)
- مُفَاجَأَة noun (something not expected)
- بَاغَتَ verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- دَهِشَ verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Armenian
3 entries- անակնկալ noun (something not expected)
- անակնկալ noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- զարմացնել verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Asturian
2 entries- sorpresa noun (something not expected)
- sorprender verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Azerbaijani
1 entries- təəccübləndirmək verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Bangi
1 entries- kamwisa verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Belarusian
4 entries- неспадзе́ўка noun (something not expected)
- сюрпры́з noun (something not expected)
- дзіві́ць verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- здзіві́ць verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Bulgarian
4 entries- изнена́да noun (something not expected)
- сюрпри́з noun (something not expected)
- изнена́дам verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- изнена́двам verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Catalan
2 entries- sorpresa noun (something not expected)
- sorprendre verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Chinese Mandarin
3 entries- 意外 noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- 驚奇 /惊奇 noun (something not expected)
- 使吃驚 /使吃惊 verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Czech
3 entries- překvapení noun (something not expected)
- překvapit verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- překvapovat verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Danish
3 entries- overraskelse noun (something not expected)
- overraskelses- noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- overraske verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Dutch
4 entries- verrassing noun (something not expected)
- verrassings- noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- verbazen verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- verbijsteren verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Esperanto
2 entries- surprizo noun (something not expected)
- surprizi verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Estonian
2 entries- üllatus noun (something not expected)
- üllatama verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Finnish
4 entries- yllätys noun (something not expected)
- yllätys- noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- hämmästyttää verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- yllättää verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
French
4 entries- surprise noun (something not expected)
- surprise noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- surprendre verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- étonner verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Galician
2 entries- sorpresa noun (something not expected)
- sorprender verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Georgian
1 entries- სიურპრიზი noun (something not expected)
German
3 entries- Überraschung noun (something not expected)
- Überraschungs- noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- überraschen verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Greek
4 entries- έκπληξη noun (something not expected)
- αιφνίδιος noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- ξάφνιασμα noun (something not expected)
- ξαφνικός noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
Hebrew
1 entries- הַפְתָּעָה noun (something not expected)
Hindi
2 entries- आश्चर्य noun (something not expected)
- विस्मय noun (something not expected)
Hungarian
4 entries- meglepetés noun (something not expected)
- meglepetésszerű noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- váratlan noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- meglep verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Ido
1 entries- surprizar verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Indonesian
1 entries- kejutan noun (something not expected)
Iranian Persian
4 entries- سورْپِرایْز noun (something not expected)
- سورْپِریز noun (something not expected)
- سورْپْرایْز noun (something not expected)
- سورْپْریز noun (something not expected)
Irish
3 entries- ionadh noun (something not expected)
- cuir ionadh ar verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- cuir iontas ar verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Italian
4 entries- sorpresa noun (something not expected)
- meravigliare verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- sorprendere verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- stupire verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Japanese
2 entries- 驚き noun (something not expected)
- 驚かす verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Korean
2 entries- 놀라움 noun (something not expected)
- 놀라게 하다 verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Latin
3 entries- inopīnātum noun (something not expected)
- stupefaciō verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- stupeō verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Latvian
1 entries- pārsteigums noun (something not expected)
Lingala
1 entries- kamwisa verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Lower Sorbian
1 entries- pśechwatanje noun (something not expected)
Luxembourgish
1 entries- Iwwerraschung noun (something not expected)
Macedonian
3 entries- изненадување noun (something not expected)
- изненади verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- изненадува verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Malay
2 entries- kejutan noun (something not expected)
- mengejut noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
Māori
2 entries- urumaranga noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- komutu verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Norwegian
1 entries- overraske verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Norwegian Bokmål
3 entries- overraskelse noun (something not expected)
- overraskelses- noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- overrasknings- noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
Norwegian Nynorsk
1 entries- overrasking noun (something not expected)
Occitan
1 entries- suspresa noun (something not expected)
Persian
2 entries- تعجب ساختن verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- شگفتزده ساختن verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Plautdietsch
1 entries- Äwarauschunk noun (something not expected)
Polish
4 entries- niespodzianka noun (something not expected)
- zaskoczenie noun (something not expected)
- dziwić verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- zadziwić verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Portuguese
3 entries- surpresa noun (something not expected)
- surpresa noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- surpreender verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Romanian
4 entries- surprindere noun (something not expected)
- surpriză noun (something not expected)
- surpriză noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- surprinde verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Russian
4 entries- неожи́данность noun (something not expected)
- сюрпри́з noun (something not expected)
- удиви́ть verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- удивля́ть verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Scottish Gaelic
1 entries- iongnadh noun (something not expected)
Serbo-Croatian
2 entries- iznenađénje noun (something not expected)
- изненађе́ње noun (something not expected)
Sindhi
1 entries- اچرج noun (something not expected)
Slovak
3 entries- prekvapenie noun (something not expected)
- prekvapiť verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- prekvapovať verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Slovene
2 entries- presenečenje noun (something not expected)
- presenetiti verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Spanish
3 entries- sorpresa noun (something not expected)
- sorpresa noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- sorprender verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Swedish
4 entries- överraskning noun (something not expected)
- överrasknings- noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- förvåna verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- överraska verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Telugu
1 entries- ఆశ్చర్యపరచు verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Thai
1 entries- ทำให้ประหลาดใจ verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Turkish
3 entries- sürpriz noun (something not expected)
- sürpriz noun (attributively: that is unexpected)
- şaşırtmak verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Ukrainian
4 entries- несподіва́нка noun (something not expected)
- сюрпри́з noun (something not expected)
- дивува́ти verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- здивува́ти verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Vietnamese
3 entries- bất ngờ noun (something not expected)
- không ngờ noun (something not expected)
- ngạc nhiên verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Walloon
2 entries- ewaermint noun (something not expected)
- sbarmint noun (something not expected)
Welsh
2 entries- syfrdannu verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
- synnu verb (cause (someone) to feel surprise)
Sample sentences
25 total sentences available.
It's not much of a surprise, is it?
Source: tatoeba (1433)
It's a surprise.
Source: tatoeba (1567)
Jason was a taciturn individual, so it was always a real surprise when he said anything.
Source: tatoeba (1947)
Showing 4 of 25 available sentences.
Common questions
What are the closest synonyms for "surprise"?
Closest matches include amazement, shock, admiration, alarm, amaze.
How should I check whether a synonym fits "surprise"?
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.