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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

amaze.

To fill (someone) with surprise and wonder; to astonish, to astound, to surprise.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/əˈmeɪz/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To fill (someone) with surprise and wonder; to astonish, to astound, to surprise.

    transitive
    He was amazed when he found that the girl was a robot.
  2. To stun or stupefy (someone).

    obsolete · transitive
  3. To bewilder or perplex (someone or oneself).

    also · obsolete · reflexive · transitive
  4. To fill (someone) with panic; to panic, to terrify.

    obsolete · poetic · transitive
  5. To experience amazement; to be astounded.

    archaic · intransitive
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Middle English *amasen, *amase (“to bewilder, perplex”) (attested chiefly in the past participle form, and thus often difficult to distinguish from amased (adjective)), from Old English āmasian (“to confuse, astonish”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian (“to confound, confuse, perplex; to amaze”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon, signal”)). The English word is analysable as a- (intensifying prefix) + maze (“(archaic) to astonish, amaze, bewilder; to daze, stupefy”). The noun is derived from Late Middle English amase, from the verb: see above.

noun/əˈmeɪz/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Amazement, astonishment; (countable) an instance of this.

    archaic · uncountable
  2. Fear, terror.

    archaic · uncountable
  3. Stupefaction of the mind; bewilderment; (countable) an instance of this.

    obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Middle English *amasen, *amase (“to bewilder, perplex”) (attested chiefly in the past participle form, and thus often difficult to distinguish from amased (adjective)), from Old English āmasian (“to confuse, astonish”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian (“to confound, confuse, perplex; to amaze”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon, signal”)). The English word is analysable as a- (intensifying prefix) + maze (“(archaic) to astonish, amaze, bewilder; to daze, stupefy”). The noun is derived from Late Middle English amase, from the verb: see above.

adj/əˈmeɪz/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Clipping of amazing.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · slang
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Middle English *amasen, *amase (“to bewilder, perplex”) (attested chiefly in the past participle form, and thus often difficult to distinguish from amased (adjective)), from Old English āmasian (“to confuse, astonish”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian (“to confound, confuse, perplex; to amaze”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon, signal”)). The English word is analysable as a- (intensifying prefix) + maze (“(archaic) to astonish, amaze, bewilder; to daze, stupefy”). The noun is derived from Late Middle English amase, from the verb: see above.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.