amazing

English

Etymology

From amaze +‎ -ing, from Old English āmasian.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: ə-mā'zĭng, IPA^(key): /əˈmeɪzɪŋ/, [əˈmeɪ̯zɪŋ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪzɪŋ

Verb

amazing

1. present participle and gerund of amaze
   • 1698, John Fryer, “The Present State of Persia. Chap. XIII. Of Their Bookmen and Books; of Their Religion and Religious Worship; of Their Notions in Philosophy; of Heaven and Hell: Their Astronomers, Physicians, and Lawyers.”, in A New Account of East-India and Persia, in Eight Letters. Being Nine Years Travels, Begun 1672. And Finished 1681. […], London: […] R[obert] R[oberts] for Ri[chard] Chiswell, letter V (Travels into Persia), page 375:

     Falling into her uſual Trance, ſhe at that inſtant wrought their Fancies to be perſuaded of the confuſed Articulation of Multitudes met as in a Fair, converſing and making a chattering, to the amazing of them all.

   • 1848, John Bunyan, Robert Philip, The Greatness of the Soul: And the Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof, T. Nelson, page 29:

     How many things have men found out to the amazing of one another, to the wonderment of one another, to the begetting of endless commendations of one another in the world

   • 1996 August 5, Tim Behrendsen, “Tim Behrendsen Lost and Spaced THE FINAL TRY”, in rec.games.computer.quake.misc (Usenet):

     Amazing is judged relative what already exists, and Quake has the best underwater effects so far.

   • 1997 November 30, Sir Frederick, “Pro-Mormons are amazing also”, in alt.religion.mormon.fellowship (Usenet):

     Reality, especially God's Reality is amazing. For instance that there is something rather than nothing is amazing. [...] Amazing is amazing.

   • 1999 July 13, Irma Dobkin, Mary Jo Peterson, Gracious Spaces, McGraw-Hill Professional, page xix:

     The amazing is happening.

   • 2000 March 24, Shadow, “Return of the Fulgore Rant!”, in alt.fan.dragons (Usenet):

     All that is impossibly amazing is considered nothing, and the impossibly amazing is considered normal.

   • 2001 February 3, Brian, “D3 weird FPS”, in alt.games.descent (Usenet):

     The amazing is that, in EXACTLY the same situation, the demo2 doesn't show this problem.

   • 2003 June 23, Thomas Bernhard, Three Novellas, University of Chicago Press, page 31:

     Everything that amazes has its method, until we notice that the amazing is not amazing, has no method.

   • 2004 October 23, MgClearwater, “George says: Joe and Brian stay..”, in alt.sports.baseball.ny-yankees (Usenet):

     Sheffield is an amazing athlete, how much of the amazing is provided from the Chemlab.

   • 2006 May 16, Simon Baird, "monkeyGTD is amazing- a few questions and suggestions", GTD TiddlyWiki, Google goups

     Cool! Of course 99% of the amazing is due to the "powered by TiddlyWiki" part of MonkeyGTD.. :)

Adjective

amazing (comparative more amazing, superlative most amazing)

1. Causing wonder and amazement; very surprising.
   • 2012 March 16, “Charlize Theron Says Swaddling’s ‘Pretty Amazing’”, in People Magazine:

     “It’s been amazing, the amount of emails and congratulations,” the Snow White and the Huntsman star, 36, told Ryan Seacrest Friday on his radio show.

2. (informal) Possessing uniquely wonderful qualities; very good.
   • 2012 March 16, “Charlize Theron Says Swaddling’s ‘Pretty Amazing’”, in People Magazine:

     “I didn’t think I would be a fan of the swaddling, but the swaddling’s pretty amazing,” she says.

   • 2014, November 6, WAAY-TV (Huntsville, AL), VIDEO: "Sitting next to him was amazing" says student of General Via

     "I think it was pretty amazing that he picked our school out of a lot of schools to come speak to us about what he has done, and what our country has done, to help us gain our freedom," Mucci said, “sitting next to him was amazing.”

   • 2014, November 8, Nick McCarvel, "Wozniacki's marathon debut was amazing, Djokovic says", USA TODAY Sports

     "Running a marathon is definitely an amazing experience."

   • 2015 June 10, Lindsey Bever, Morning Mix: Another reason seeing-eye dogs are amazing‎^[1]:

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:awesome

Derived terms

• amazingly
• amazingness
• awesomazing
• unamazing

 

Related terms

• amazement

Translations

causing wonder and amazement

• Arabic: مُدْهِش (mudhiš), مُذْهِل (ar) (muḏhil)

  South Levantine Arabic: خرافي (ḵurāfi)

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: ғәжәп (ğəjəp), аптырарлыҡ (aptırarlıq), иҫ киткес (iś kitkes)
• Belarusian: дзі́ўны (dzíŭny), дзіво́сны (dzivósny), чаро́ўны (čaróŭny)
• Bulgarian: удивителен (bg) (udivitelen), смайващ (bg) (smajvašt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精彩 (zh) (jīngcǎi), 了不起 (zh) (liǎobuqǐ)

• Czech: úžasný (cs) m, ohromující (cs)
• Dutch: wonderbaarlijk (nl), prachtig (nl), verbluffend (nl)
• Esperanto: mirinda
• Finnish: hämmästyttävä (fi)
• French: étonnant (fr)
• Georgian: საოცარი (ka) (saocari), საკვირველი (saḳvirveli)
• German: erstaunlich (de), unglaublich (de), verwunderlich (de)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (sildaleiks)
• Greek: εκπληκτικός (el) (ekpliktikós)
• Hebrew: מַדְהִים m (madhím)
• Ingrian: ihmelliin, ihmekäs
• Italian: meraviglioso (it), sorprendente (it), sbalorditivo (it)
• Japanese: 驚くべき (おどろくべき, odoroku-beki), 凄い (ja) (すごい, sugoi)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: mīrus (la), mirabilis
• Manx: ard-yindyssagh
• Mongolian: гайхалтай (gajxaltaj)
• Nepali: अचम्मको (acammako)
• Norwegian: forbløffende
• Polish: zdumiewający (pl)
• Portuguese: surpreendente (pt)
• Romanian: uimitor (ro), extraordinar (ro)
• Russian: изуми́тельный (ru) m (izumítelʹnyj), порази́тельный (ru) (porazítelʹnyj), восхити́тельный (ru) (vosxitítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: asombroso (es), sorprendente (es)
• Swedish: häpnadsväckande (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: şaşırtıcı (tr)
• Ukrainian: ди́вний (dývnyj), чудо́вий (čudóvyj), дивови́жний (dyvovýžnyj)
• Vietnamese: tuyệt vời (vi)

possessing uniquely wonderful qualities

• Finnish: mieletön (fi)
• French: formidable (fr), super (fr), extraordinaire (fr), sensationnel (fr)
• Georgian: საოცარი (ka) (saocari)
• German: toll (de), super (de), unglaublich (de)
• Ingrian: ihmelliin, ihmekäs
• Italian: formidabile (it)
• Romanian: extraordinar (ro)

very good — see good

References

• “amazing”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “amazing”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “amazing”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.