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Surprise vs Shock - What's the difference?

surprise | shock |

Shock is a synonym of surprise.



As nouns the difference between surprise and shock

is that surprise is something not expected while shock is sudden, heavy impact.

As verbs the difference between surprise and shock

is that surprise is to cause (someone) to feel unusually alarmed or delighted while shock is to cause to be emotionally shocked.

As an adjective surprise

is unexpected.

surprise

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (qualifier)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something not expected.
  • * 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Rickie Lambert’s debut goal gives England victory over Scotland'' (in ''The Guardian , 14 August 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/14/england-scotland-international-friendly]
    • They had begun brightly but the opening goal was such a blow to their confidence it almost came as a surprise when Walcott, running through the inside-right channel, beat the offside trap and, checking back on to his left foot, turned a low shot beyond Allan McGregor in the Scotland goal.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=September 7, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Moldova 0-5 England , passage=England were graphically illustrating the huge gulf in class between the sides and it was no surprise when Lampard added the second just before the half hour. Steven Gerrard found his Liverpool team-mate Glen Johnson and Lampard arrived in the area with perfect timing to glide a header beyond Namasco.}}
  • (attributive) Unexpected.
  • The feeling that something unexpected has happened.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.
  • (obsolete) A dish covered with a crust of raised pastry, but with no other contents.
    • (King)

    Synonyms

    * unexpected * (feeling) astonishment

    Derived terms

    * take by surprise

    Verb

    (surpris)
  • To cause (someone) to feel unusually alarmed or delighted.
    • It surprises me that I owe twice as much as I thought I did.
  • To do something to (a person) that they are not expecting, as a surprise.
    • He doesn’t know that I’m in the country – I thought I’d turn up at his house and surprise him.
  • To undergo or witness something unexpected.
    • He doesn’t surprise easily.
  • To cause surprise.
  • To attack unexpectedly.
  • To take unawares.

    • Adjective

    (-)
  • Unexpected.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
    • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=“I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I??? Why didn’t I telephone??? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …”}} 1000 English basic words ----

    shock

    English

    (wikipedia shock)

    Alternative forms

    * choque (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Sudden, heavy impact.
    • The train hit the buffers with a great shock .
  • # (figuratively) Something so surprising that it is stunning.
  • # Electric shock, a sudden burst of electric energy, hitting an animate animal such as a human.
  • # Circulatory shock, a life-threatening medical emergency characterized by the inability of the circulatory system to supply enough oxygen to meet tissue requirements.
  • # A sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance
  • (mathematics) A discontinuity arising in the solution of a partial differential equation.
    • Derived terms
    * bow shock * culture shock * economic shock * electric shock * shock absorber * shock jock * shock mount * shock rock * shock site * shock therapy * shock wave, shockwave * shocker * shocking pink * shockproof * shockumentary * shockvertising * supply shock * technology shock * termination shock * toxic shock syndrome
    Synonyms
    See

    References

    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause to be emotionally shocked.
    • The disaster shocked the world.
  • To give an electric shock.
  • (obsolete) To meet with a shock; to meet in violent encounter.
  • * De Quincey
    • They saw the moment approach when the two parties would shock together.

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An arrangement of sheaves for drying, a stook.
  • * Tusser
    • Cause it on shocks to be by and by set.
  • * Thomson
    • Behind the master walks, builds up the shocks .
  • (commerce, dated) A lot consisting of sixty pieces; a term applied in some Baltic ports to loose goods.
  • (by extension) A tuft or bunch of something (e.g. hair, grass)
    • a head covered with a shock of sandy hair
  • (obsolete, by comparison) A small dog with long shaggy hair, especially a poodle or spitz; a shaggy lapdog.
  • * 1827 Thomas Carlyle, The Fair-Haired Eckbert
    • When I read of witty persons, I could not figure them but like the little shock (translating the German Spitz).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To collect, or make up, into a shock or shocks; to stook.
    • to shock rye

    Anagrams

    * ----