Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise.
- v. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex.
- v. To cause great wonder or astonishment: a sight that amazes.
- n. Amazement; wonder.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To confound with fear, sudden surprise, or wonder; confuse; perplex.
- To strike with astonishment, surprise, or wonder; astonish; surprise: as, you amaze me; I was amazed to find him there.
- Synonyms Surprise, Astonish, etc. (see surprise); to confound, stagger, stupefy, dumfound.
- To wonder; he amazed.
- n. Astonishment; confusion; perplexity arising from fear, surprise, or wonder; amazement: used chiefly in poetry.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. obsolete To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze.
- v. To confound, as by fear, wonder, extreme surprise; to overwhelm with wonder; to astound; to astonish greatly.
- v. Archaic To be astounded.
- v. Chiefly poetic Bewilderment, arising from fear, surprise, or wonder; amazement.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be a mystery or bewildering to
- v. affect with wonder
Etymologies
- From Middle English amasen ("to bewilder, perplex"), from Old English āmasian ("to confuse, astonish"), from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian ("to confound") from *mæs ("delusion, bewilderment"), from Proto-Germanic *mas-, *masōnan (“to confound, be weary, dream”), from Proto-Indo-European *mā- (“to stupefy”). Akin to Old Norse masa ("to struggle, be confused"), Ancient Greek μάτη (mátē, "folly"), μέμαα (mémaa, "I was eager"). More at automatic. (Wiktionary)
- From Middle English masen, to bewilder, and from amased, bewildered (from Old English āmasod), both from Old English āmasian, to bewilder : ā-, intensive pref. + *masian, to confuse. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I. ii.115 (240,4) [You amaze me, ladies] To _amaze_, here, is not to astonish or strike with wonder, but to perplex; to confuse; as, to put out of the intended narrative.”
“But, as I said, I was in amaze, and the next I knew was the pang of the entering steel as this clumsy provincial ran me through and charged forward, bull-like, till his hilt bruised my side and I was borne backward.”
“And the fluttering, chirping gentlemen are rubbing their hands in amaze and wondering why they did not do it long ago, it was so very, very simple.”
“From time to time I forsook my own thoughts to follow him, and I followed in amaze, mastered for the moment by his remarkable intellect, under the spell of his passion, for he was preaching the passion of revolt.”
“What continues to amaze is the ignorance about addiction.”
Why do American elementary schools equate wine and pot? | Dr Vino's wine blog
“He stared at it in amaze, his brain a racing wild-fire of hypotheses to account for this far-journeyer who had adventured the night of space, threaded the stars, and now rose before him and above him, exhumed by patient anthropophagi, pitted and lacquered by its fiery bath in two atmospheres.”
“But as I said, I was in amaze, and the next I knew was the pang of the entering steel as this clumsy provincial ran me through and charged forward, bull - like, till his hilt bruised my side and I was borne backward.”
“He set her on her feet and stared at her in amaze; she met his enraptured gaze with eyes that shone like twin blue stars.”
“A pig!" said Mr. Olmney, in amaze – Mrs. Evelyn again giving out in distress.”
“Mrs. Rossitur looked up in amaze, and waited for the question to be repeated.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘amaze’.
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When a door is ajar
Words with the prefix "a"
ajar, asleep, akin, ablaze, afoot, abed, aground, aback, afloat, alive, abaft, abloom and 91 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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LIT - Iliad - key words and protagonists
abduct, abducting, abductor, Achaea, Achaean, Achilles, advise, Aegean, Aegean Sea, Aegina, aegis, Aeneas and 713 more...
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I am : mystified
As in, 'confused' and 'entranced' both.
mystify, entrance, enrapture, puzzle, ensorcell, confound, mesmerize, confuse, bewitch, captivate, beguile, fascinate and 11 more...
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[Open] Stative Verbs
Definition Many of these can also be dynamic.
Please just list bare infinitives to keep the list wieldy. Perhaps a tag (e.g., “stative”) would be sufficient for participles.)act, amaze, appear, appreciate, astonish, become, believe, belong, cost, feel, get, hate and 53 more...
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NTB
chaos, Sagittarius, aether, magic, jester, fool, random, delirium, fire, life, cosmic, riddle and 120 more...
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word list
abandon, ache, augment, avow, atone, approbate, apprehend, abut, apostatize, abase, abash, abate and 155 more...
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thegirlnextfloor's list
autumnal, avalanche, silhouette, antique, abysmal, scorch, sonic, surge, symmetry, whisper, penchant, dissipate and 349 more...
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The Old English Influence
Modern English words impacted by and descended from Old English.
a, aback, abaft, abide, about, above, abode, accursed, accurst, ache, acknowledge, acorn and 109 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for amaze.
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