ENGLISH
REFERENCE

wondrous

adj.
C1 Advanced US //ˈwəndɹəs// UK //wˈʌndɹəs// won·drous

adj. describing something that is so amazing or beautiful that it fills you with surprise and wonder.

adj. inspiring a feeling of amazement, admiration, or awe. Often carries a literary or slightly formal tone, used to describe extraordinary natural phenomena or impressive achievements.


SIMPLE

The view from the mountain top was truly wondrous.

CONTEXTUAL

The children stared at the wondrous display of lights during the festival, completely silent in their amazement.

COMPLEX

The explorer's journals are filled with descriptions of wondrous creatures and landscapes that had never before been documented by modern science.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English wondrous, alteration after the suffix -ous of Middle English wonders (“wondrous, wonderful”, adjective), from Old English wundres (“of wonder”), genitive singular of wundor (“wonder, miracle”), from Proto-Germanic *wundrą (“wonder”). Compare Dutch wonder, German Wunder.

Usage

Typically used attributively before a noun or predicatively after a linking verb like 'be' or 'seem'.

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