Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To cause to be overcome with astonishment; astound. See Synonyms at surprise.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To overcome with confusion or bewilderment; astonish, with ludicrous effect; confound: as, the news completely flabbergasted him.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. Jocular To astonish; to strike with wonder, esp. by extraordinary statements.
WordNet 3.0
- v. overcome with amazement
Etymologies
- Origin uncertain. Hotten says it is from Old English; Whitney and Smith suggests flabby or flap (strike) + gast (astonish); The Imperial Dictionary connects it with flabber (related to flap, to strike) + the root of aghast, and notes that flabagast may have been the root (to strike aghast); first documented as slang in 1772; Cassell gives it as dialectical from Suffolk, from flap or flabby + aghast, possibly related to Scottish flabrigast (to boast) or flabrigastit (worn out with exertion); Smith relates it to flab (to quake) or flap (to make a flap over something) + Middle English agasten (to terrify), and relates it to aghast, ghastly and ghost (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Emily says the hardest word she had to spell was 'flabbergast'.”
“A calm and collected voice spoke over the flabbergast shuttle crew: “About time you came in person.””
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“The ignorance of the American people regarding foreign affairs never continues to flabbergast me.”
“But after shaking off the flabbergast and the dumbfound he got that expression on his face, the one when he looks like a goddamn boob and he's psyched to tell me something.”
“Here are a few facts that will flabbergast you. by John Sanchez Jr. on Monday, Jan 4, 2010 at 12: 21: 24 AM”
“The three gigantic, gleaming, copper bulb shapes that dominate the entrance hall of the Wiels Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels are not the latest Damien Hirst or Jeff Koons installation, though they possess a similar capacity to flabbergast.”
“But then, I am perpetually astonished at the already pretty well-established phenomena that are evidently supposed to flabbergast otherwise reasonable adults.”
“He's reverted to his pre-convention state of fumbling and foundering and flummoxing and falling into a fevered form of flabbergast.”
“But Gillespie loved to sing and clown as well as to flabbergast with his brilliance and inventiveness, and he never quite saw why that should bother anybody.”
“Not that I ever believed in the existence of that Whitey tape, but you know, it wouldn't flabbergast me either.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘flabbergast’.
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spelling list 17
appoint, assent, concur, consult, dissuade, flabbergast, haggle, perturb, procure, receptive, repudiate, resolve and 3 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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Vocab 17
my wordnic words
appoint, assent, concur, consult, dissuade, flabbergast, haggle, perturb, procure, receptive, repudiate, resolve and 3 more...
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simply silly and oft ludicrous
words that amuse, are not (yet?) real or simply tickle you in a strange way
nincompoop, funemployed, phantasmagoria, flabbergast, hippopotomonstros..., nurdle, nitwit, staccato brain fa..., synapse epilepsy, inconceivable, inconceivable, paraprosdokian and 1 more...
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My List
frugal, vicissitude, scatter, fiduciary, calf, mesmerize, eke, unkempt, callousness, heist, fumble, flinty and 31 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Words I have to learn
exasperate, felony, weld, fraud, worksheet, ransom, rehearse, preliminary, offshore, parole, infamous, sieve and 436 more...
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Dain's Words
rabble, terminus, archaic, atavism, demiurge, waylay, syzygy, jocoserious, quark, entropy, cinnabar, shamble and 912 more...
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Odd-Ball
Just plain fun to say and wonder about their origins.
rapscallion, ramahanukwanzmas, cockamamie, nincompoop, hemidemisemiquaver, antiinterdenomina..., cattywampus, ragamuffin, tatterdemalion, blunderbuss, brobdingnagian, tintinnabulation and 127 more...
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Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
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Yet more words
hootowling, hoot owl, midday, prohibitive, shutdown, gerund, tripe, doweling, detestable, good measure, boojum, undergirding and 167 more...
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verbs
deprecate, behold, bemoan, circumscribe, circumspect, pivot, discombobulate, rummage, chasten, chastise, undulate, snog and 122 more...
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Words that are fun to say
stipple, carbuncle, dongle, exemplar, misbegotten, gigolo, salubrious, jupiter, propinquity, piglet, tobogganing, supercilious and 309 more...
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callipygian's Words
visceral, ephemeral, juxtaposition, dichotomy, polyandry, inconceivable, allegorical, archetype, mandorla, atrophy, fie, gedankenexperiment and 114 more...
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GRE uncommon
patronage, expletive, exhort, exegesis, execrable, excommunicate, evince, escarpment, ersatz, ergo, epoxy, snare and 1202 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for flabbergast.
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