- surprise
- [[t]sə(r)pra͟ɪz[/t]]
♦♦surprises, surprising, surprised1) N-COUNT: oft N to n A surprise is an unexpected event, fact, or piece of news.
I have a surprise for you: We are moving to Switzerland!...
It may come as a surprise to some that a normal, healthy child is born with many skills...
It is perhaps no surprise to see another 60s singing star attempting a comeback.
ADJ: ADJ nSurprise is also an adjective.Baxter arrived here this afternoon, on a surprise visit... German intelligence expected Japan to launch a surprise attack on the US, and Pearl Harbor was the likely target.
2) N-UNCOUNT Surprise is the feeling that you have when something unexpected happens.The Foreign Office in London has expressed surprise at these allegations...
`You mean he's going to vote against her?' Scobie asked in surprise...
I started working hard for the first time in my life. To my surprise, I found I liked it.
3) VERB If something surprises you, it gives you a feeling of surprise.[V n] We'll solve the case ourselves and surprise everyone...
[it V n that/if] It surprised me that a driver of Alain's experience should make those mistakes...
[it V n that/if] It wouldn't surprise me if there was such chaos after this election that another had to be held...
[V pron-refl] They were served lamb and rosemary and she surprised herself by eating greedily.
4) VERB If you surprise someone, you give them, tell them, or do something pleasant that they are not expecting.5) N-COUNT If you describe someone or something as a surprise, you mean that they are very good or pleasant although you were not expecting this....Senga MacFie, one of the surprises of the World Championships three months ago...
My father decided to slip a little extra spending money into my purse as a surprise.
6) VERB If you surprise someone, you attack, capture, or find them when they are not expecting it.[V n] Marlborough led his armies across the Rhine and surprised the French and Bavarian armies near the village of Blenheim.
7) → See also , surprising8) PHRASE: PHR with cl (feelings) You can say `surprise, surprise' if you disapprove of something because it is not surprising or original, or could easily have been predicted.There is a shortage of carrots. So everybody starts growing carrots. Next season, surprise, surprise, there is a glut of carrots.
9) PHRASE You can say `surprise, surprise' if you meet someone you know or give them something when they are not expecting it. [SPOKEN]He came back in as I was heading up to the shower. `Surprise, surprise,' he said.
10) PHRASE: V inflects If something takes you by surprise, it happens when you are not expecting it or when you are not prepared for it.His question took his two companions by surprise...
Whenever it snows in Britain we are taken by surprise.
English dictionary. 2008.
