Amazement is a feeling of great surprise and wonder. The state of not quite believing what you have just seen.
It takes to in the standard phrase to my amazement, which introduces something the speaker did not expect at all. In amazement follows a verb of looking, so staring in amazement is a fixed pairing. The word is stronger than surprise and softer than shock, since amazement contains admiration and shock does not. The verb amaze and the adjective amazing belong to it, though amazing has been badly weakened by overuse.
1nounamazementA feeling of great surprise and wonder.
“To his amazement, the engine started first time.”
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)meh₂- — to beckon, signal
Old English
āmasian — to confuse, astonish
Middle English
amased — to bewilder, perplex
English
amaze
English, today
amazement
Built from
From amaze + ment. amaze {| class="floatright" | |
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA