ENGLISH
REFERENCE

surprisingly

adv. sent.
B1 Intermediate US //səˈpɹaɪzɪŋɫi// UK //səpɹˈaɪzɪŋli// sur·pris·ing·ly

adv. used to say that something is unexpected or different from what you thought. You use it to show that a fact is a bit of a shock.

adv. in a manner that causes astonishment or wonder because it is unexpected. Often functions as a disjunct to express the speaker's attitude toward the following statement.


SIMPLE

The exam was surprisingly easy.

CONTEXTUAL

Surprisingly, the small restaurant was completely full on a Tuesday night.

COMPLEX

The results of the study were surprisingly consistent across different age groups, despite the researchers' initial hypothesis that older participants would respond more conservatively.

Synonyms
Origin

From surprising + -ly.

Usage

When modifying an entire sentence, it usually appears at the beginning followed by a comma; otherwise, it sits immediately before the adjective or adverb it modifies.

Pitfall

It was a surprisingly movie.It was a surprisingly good movie.As an adverb, it must modify an adjective, verb, or another adverb, rather than a noun directly.

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