wonderstruck means filled or overcome with wonder. It carries an Arena rating of 1801, earned across 16 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, wonderstruck ranks #302 of 42,749 for Qualifying, #669 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,370 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,991 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say.
Why “wonderstruck” is a great word
Filled or overcome with a feeling of surprise and admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, or inexplicable. From 'wonder' (a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration) + 'struck' (past participle of 'strike', meaning affected suddenly), first recorded between 1590 and 1600. Unlike 'awestruck,' which is overwhelmed by reverence or dread before vast power, or 'astonished,' which is stunned by sheer unexpectedness, wonderstruck is pierced by a purer, more open-hearted marvel. It is the gasp at a sudden shaft of light through storm clouds, the arrested step before a dew-laced spiderweb at dawn, or the prickle on the skin when a stranger’s kindness arrives like a letter from a forgotten friend—the heart startled open, not by terror or shock, but by beauty’s quiet ambush.
Etymology
From wonder + struck.
adj
- Filled or overcome with wonder.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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