What is the difference between astonishing and astounding

The metaphor is one of being hit over the head. My second observation was that in at least two of the headlines, either astounded or astonished would have been the more appropriate choice. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! About being stunned at news. The hammer would require an action to cause a stun. That is, one might deliver a blow using a hammer to make the blow more intense than, say, a bare hand or stalk of celery ; the blow would then be the cause of the stun.

Such a stun would be more intense than a distraction. The recipient of such a blow would be incapable of thought for measurable seconds or longer. Stun implies a state more active than unconscious, yet absent of constructive or directed thought. Being stunned by a hammer would overlook the details of the hammer being acted upon, the resulting blow, and the fact that it is the effects of the blow, the impact of the hammer with the recipient, that results in the stunning impact.

Presumably the blow would also result in bodily injury, in addition to the stunning effect on the thinking processes. I could imagine that the stun to thinking processes would be at the existence of an external factor, rather than by the action of an external factor or person.

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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Thread starter Ultramarine Start date Jul 26, Ultramarine Senior Member Ukraine. I have to arrange the following adjectives in order of their strength, and I realized I don't know which is stronger, astonishing or amazing?

This seems like an odd task, Ultramarine. If I were asked to rank these adjectives, I'd use the same order that you have. However, I don't think there's any reliable way to compare them. One speaker might think that "astounding" was weaker than "astonishing". I'm struggling to come up with an example where only one of them works.

They're very close. Like "an astounding feat of strength. Note that Oxford Learner's Dictionary gives 'astonishing' as a synonym for 'astounding'. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password.

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