What's the difference between ambush and surprisal?

Ambush


Definition:

  • (v. t.) A disposition or arrangement of troops for attacking an enemy unexpectedly from a concealed station. Hence: Unseen peril; a device to entrap; a snare.
  • (v. t.) A concealed station, where troops or enemies lie in wait to attack by surprise.
  • (v. t.) The troops posted in a concealed place, for attacking by surprise; liers in wait.
  • (v. t.) To station in ambush with a view to surprise an enemy.
  • (v. t.) To attack by ambush; to waylay.
  • (v. i.) To lie in wait, for the purpose of attacking by surprise; to lurk.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Prince began ambushing fans in February this year, playing his first big shows since 1995 as he took over arenas in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds as well as intimate venues in London and Manchester.
  • (2) The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games ordered the campaign be taken down for breaching strict rules on ambush marketing of the event by brands that are not official sponsors.
  • (3) Excess military equipment – such as Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) and other weapons – get transferred to police departments, to communities large and small across the country, for free.
  • (4) Even after being ambushed by anti-terror cops when panicked Londoners reported "a bloke pretending to be a Muslim woman", I didn't complain.
  • (5) Then the people of Karamoja turned on each other, transforming the area into a wild west of cattle raids and ambushes.
  • (6) Or perhaps this latest ambush is just an excuse to resume the government’s internal warfare, which has been roiling away since January.
  • (7) • Sign up to play our great Fantasy Football game • Stats centre: Get the lowdown on every player • The latest team-by-team news, features and more • Follow the Guardian's Fans' Network now "We view ambush marketing in a very serious light and we urge people not to embark on these ambush campaigns," police said in a statement.
  • (8) "Jundollah uses a variety of terrorist tactics, including suicide bombings, ambushes, kidnappings and targeted assassinations."
  • (9) I take you very, very seriously.” Pretzell and Petry are like Bonnie and Clyde, pursuing a course of ambush through the German public Jakob Augstein, Der Spiegel Not for a long time has so much been written and said about a single German politician (other than Merkel).
  • (10) When the Seemanchal Express that had been ambushed in Katihar finally pulled into Delhi, traffickers rounded up the children who had remained on the train and shepherded their cargo towards the doors.
  • (11) The government’s Senate leader, Eric Abetz, said: “As I understand it, Kathy Jackson complained that she felt that she had been ambushed by the royal commission and had been treated very harshly.” Labor had postponed debate on the Senate motion several times amid negotiations with crossbenchers.
  • (12) It is understood that between 35 and 40 tickets allocated to Earle ended up in the hands of the marketing company said to have orchestrated the ambush marketing effort on behalf of the beer brand Bavaria via a third party.
  • (13) After the apparently radical notion of “fairness” ambushed its first budget, the Abbott government seemed to go through four stages of grief.
  • (14) Stalker began to think that special branch, supported by MI5, might be using informants to lure terrorism suspects into pre-planned ambushes, mounted by police officers who were indeed shooting to kill.
  • (15) The acting commander of border police in Kandahar, Abdul Razzaq Achakzai [Raziq], has acknowledged killing the victims, but has claimed (claims now proved false) that the killings took place during an ambush he conducted against Taliban infiltrators,” a report by the office of the EU envoy to Afghanistan said then.
  • (16) Fine – if they were going to ambush me, I would ambush right back.
  • (17) Many are streaming towards the Tunisian border crossing, with Egypt having already closed its own frontier after 21 of its border guards were killed in an ambush.
  • (18) Private Morales Matthews, from the same regiment, received a mention in dispatches for risking his own life to protect a colleague, apparently wounded, during an ambush.
  • (19) They were met by a police ambush on the outskirts of town.
  • (20) Hamas fighters hid in apartment buildings ready to ambush the IDF.

Surprisal


Definition:

  • (n.) The act of surprising, or state of being surprised; surprise.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, who bought the island in 1738, were to return today he would doubtless recognise the scene, though he might be surprised that his small private buildings have grown into a sizable hotel.
  • (2) Surprisingly, the clonal elimination of V beta 6+ cells is preceded by marked expansion of these cells.
  • (3) Given Australia’s number one position as the worst carbon emitter per capita among major western nations it seems hardly surprising that islanders from Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and other small island developing states have been turning to Australia with growing exasperation demanding the country demonstrate an appropriate response and responsibility.
  • (4) S&P – the only one of the three major agencies not to have stripped the UK of its coveted AAA status – said it had been surprised at the pick-up in activity during 2013 – a year that began with fears of a triple-dip recession.
  • (5) Why is it so surprising to people that a boy like Chol, just out of conflict, has thought through the needs of his country in such a detailed way?” While Beah’s zeal is laudable, the situation in South Sudan is dire .
  • (6) Diabetic retinopathy (an index of microangiopathy) and absence of peripheral pulses, amputation, or history of myocardial infarction, stroke, or transient ischemic attacks (as evidence of macroangiopathy) caused surprisingly little increase in relative risk for cardiovascular death.
  • (7) Just don’t be surprised if they ask you to repair their phones, too.
  • (8) One surprising finding is that the MAL1g-encoded maltose permease exhibits little sequence homology to the MAL1-encoded maltose permease though they appear to be functionally homologous.
  • (9) Surprisingly, however, despite the severe defect in viral DNA replication, the synthesis of a few species of viral late proteins continues in cells infected by some of the E1B mutants.
  • (10) Thus, during treatment with ethambutol visually (pattern) evoked potentials may reveal a surprisingly high percentage of subclinical optic neuritis.
  • (11) Somewhat surprisingly then, in view of the mechanisms in mammals, birds do not seem to use this seasonal message in the photoperiodic control of reproduction.
  • (12) Infants were habituated to models posing either prototypically positive displays (e.g., happy expressions) or positive expression blends (e.g., mock surprise).
  • (13) The BBA statistics director, David Dooks, said: "It was no surprise to see the January mortgage figures falling back from December, when transactions were being pushed through to beat the end of stamp duty relief.
  • (14) "We knew people would be interested in the announcement, but it's fair to say that the scale of the excitement, right across the world, took us all by surprise.
  • (15) When you have champions of financial rectitude such as the International Monetary Fund and OECD warning of the international risk of an "explosion of social unrest" and arguing for a new fiscal stimulus if growth continues to falter, it's hardly surprising that tensions in the cabinet over next month's spending review are spilling over.
  • (16) Myelodysplastic preleukemic syndromes (MDPS) and acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) share a surprising in vivo sensitivity to the hormonally acting 13 cis or all trans retinoic acids (transRA).
  • (17) Apple has come out fighting, which is no surprise given the remarkable success that the company has seen in recent years.
  • (18) His words surprised some because of an impression that the US was unwilling to talk about these issues.
  • (19) A teaching union has questioned appointment of a trustee of Britain's largest academy chain group as chairman of the schools regulator Ofsted , in what was a surprise announcement meant to calm some of the internal conflicts within the coalition.
  • (20) Given that a post-poll economy still registers as a crucial issue among undecided voters, and that matters economic are now his BBC day job, that was hardly surprising.

Words possibly related to "surprisal"