What's the difference between astonish and flabbergast?

Astonish


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To stun; to render senseless, as by a blow.
  • (v. t.) To strike with sudden fear, terror, or wonder; to amaze; to surprise greatly, as with something unaccountable; to confound with some sudden emotion or passion.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It is my desperate hope that we close out of town.” In the book, God publishes his own 'It Getteth Better' video and clarifies his original writings on homosexuality: I remember dictating these lines to Moses; and afterward looking up to find him staring at me in wide-eyed astonishment, and saying, "Thou do knowest that when the Israelites read this, they're going to lose their fucking shit, right?"
  • (2) To a supporter at the last election like me – someone who spoke alongside Nick Clegg at the curtain-raiser event for the party conference during the height of Labour's onslaught on civil liberties, and was assured privately by two leaders that the party was onside about civil liberties – this breach of trust and denial of principle is astonishing.
  • (3) It's that he habitually abuses his position by lobbying ministers at all; I've heard from former ministers who were astonished by the speed with which their first missive from Charles arrived, opening with the phrase: "It really is appalling".
  • (4) Puskas, possessed of a left foot of astonishing power, and his team colleagues, Sandor Kocsis and Zoltan Czibor, all found their way to Spain.
  • (5) Results of venous thrombectomies are particularly astonishingly good in phlegmasia coerulea and it is therefore mandatory to transfer all fresh cases of thrombosis of the deep veins of the peelvis and lower extremities to an angiologic center in order to differentiate cases for fibrinolytic therapy, from those which require surgical intervention.
  • (6) FWA chairman Andy Dunn said: "Those members who have been fortunate enough to be working at a match involving Luis Suárez have witnessed an astonishing talent first-hand.
  • (7) Even Corbyn’s fiercest critics have to concede he has achieved something astonishing.
  • (8) Recently released figures from the Veterans Administration on the number of Vietnam veterans who have been granted service connection in their claims for post-traumatic stress disorder appear to be astonishingly low, given the publicity that the media and mental health professionals have placed on this diagnosis in recent years.
  • (9) It is, in fact, quite astonishing to find British housebuilders and planners going along with the design and construction of such decent new homes.
  • (10) Over the past year, they’ve been to five continents and discovered an astonishing world of insect flavour.
  • (11) "The memorable 1961 British Home Championship yielded an astonishing 40 goals from six matches," writes Erik Kennedy.
  • (12) The complication rate was astonishingly low during IUSC: being only 4.3% (2 male patients, one with stricture of the urethra and epididymitis, one with autonomous dysreflexia with bladder overdistension).
  • (13) He added: “In the context of very surprising populist electoral successes in the US it would be astonishing if the BBC didn’t interview her.
  • (14) So how did Vanity Fair decide to illustrate this heartfelt and rather astonishing interview?
  • (15) Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, said he would be astonished if the coalition had not enacted a lobbyists' register and a power to recall errant MPs by 2015.
  • (16) At one point, Hodge said she was astonished that the secretary of state had claimed that Stephens had approved Smith's role.
  • (17) Individualism – the assertion of every person’s claim to maximised private freedom and the unrestrained liberty to express autonomous desires … became the leftwing watchword of the hour.” The result was an astonishing liberation: from millennia of social, gender and sexual control by powerful, mostly elderly men.
  • (18) She is fantastically clever and when she's on about ideas she is astonishing.
  • (19) The kinetic data obtained using lysine-containing model peptides as substrates indicate an astonishing similarity to mammalian lysyloxidase.
  • (20) "We are a struggling small business and I am astonished that banks are allowed to get away with handling their accounts in this way.

Flabbergast


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To astonish; to strike with wonder, esp. by extraordinary statements.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I was flabbergasted, as were the rest of the 30 oceanographers.
  • (2) I would be flabbergasted that if anyone bothered to test the loos of some of our most uptight rightwing papers they didn't find some traces of Class A drugs.
  • (3) "I'd be flabbergasted if the Puntland fields were worth the time of the big players such as BP or Shell.
  • (4) Abbott confirmed that claim and said he was disappointed and flabbergasted by the delay.
  • (5) We were all flabbergasted that the little boy from Quebec city managed to overturn everything."
  • (6) Given its indifference toward women and racism, its eagerness to plunder public coffers and its outright economic and medical hostility toward its own labor force, it is flabbergasting that any of us remain fans of the NFL at all.
  • (7) Abbott’s comments to the Australian newspaper – that he was “flabbergasted” at an apparent decision to delay the acquisition of 12 new submarines – had been contradicted by senior defence officials , Turnbull said.
  • (8) Put simply it’s, “What the actual fuck?” “I don’t even think you are human!” cries one listener, flabbergasted by Broke Up and its squiggling rave synths, which sound as if they’re gasping for life.
  • (9) And he had huge hands, too.” Ron, all these years later, was still moved by, flabbergasted by, the attention Reagan paid to him as a boy.
  • (10) Given that the bugbot video is at least three years old, I'd be flabbergasted if there isn't a production line silently screwing the wings on to a miniature death squadron in some Nevadan hangar right now.
  • (11) Add in the fact that Bert had been hoping to cash in on stock and that Roger has seen his lead at Chevy subverted behind his back and you can understand why SCDP's jungle king has chosen to break the news to a flabbergasted Peggy Olson from the safety of his former rivals' office.
  • (12) But a former Howard-era minister, Peter Reith, disagreed, saying Abbott’s comments to Sheridan that he was “flabbergasted” by an apparent delay in acquiring new submarines would hurt the government.
  • (13) To say that the news has unsettled the party of which he is now the nominal head would be a gross understatement – thunderstruck, flabbergasted or devastated would be closer to the mark.
  • (14) In a story revealing the leak, in the Australian newspaper, Abbott was quoted as saying he had been “not just disappointed” but “flabbergasted” by the delay.
  • (15) "I heard Tim Farron speak earlier and Nick Clegg said this to me as well, they are flabbergasted that essentially we are in a situation where a man … where the allegations and the evidence have now been thoroughly tested and have actually been found to be credible, so nobody is suggesting that they think we are lying."
  • (16) Councillor Trevor Blythe, who represents Clifton ward for the Lib Dems on Bristol city council, said: "We were absolutely flabbergasted when we heard he'd been arrested."
  • (17) "I am so flabbergasted right now; that may be the single weirdest factoid of the entire World Cup."
  • (18) Yet one of the flabbergasting aspects of the Guardian's story about 'Billionaires Row' was the calm acceptance of such spectacular property hoarding.
  • (19) Former prime minister Tony Abbott , who has strenuously denied being the source of the leak to his friend, journalist Greg Sheridan, was quoted in the story in the Australia saying he was “not just disappointed” but also “flabbergasted” by the delay.
  • (20) People … will be flabbergasted that nothing has been done about this," Ummuna said.