What's the difference between miracle and surprise?

Miracle


Definition:

  • (n.) A wonder or wonderful thing.
  • (n.) Specifically: An event or effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the universe is governed.
  • (n.) A miracle play.
  • (n.) A story or legend abounding in miracles.
  • (v. t.) To make wonderful.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Here the miracle of the Lohans' baby was divinely ordained and fulfilled the entitlement of every woman to have a child.
  • (2) It is little wonder that his doctors have described him as a medical miracle.
  • (3) Westwood came within an inch of clawing back a shot with a firm, brave putt, but went to the 16th having to birdie his way to the clubhouse to pull off a minor miracle.
  • (4) Given a certain somebody gave millions of cancer sufferers false hope by insisting his seven Tour de France wins were the result of a medical miracle rather than the most sophisticated doping programme ever seen in sport, it is hard to keep the faith.
  • (5) "References to 'the miracles' that companies are able to perform risks underplaying the role that donors like DfID and country governments have in ensuring that economic development provides benefits to the poorest in society."
  • (6) Well you hadn't brought it up which is a bloody miracle after 20 minutes.
  • (7) It is hard to think of a better provisional epitaph than that supplied in the midst of his later troubles by Martin Palouš, one of the first signatories of Charter 77: "Havel was the man who was able to stage this miracle play.
  • (8) China’s miracle years have played out, and the government faces a difficult transition to the next phase of development It has been a traumatic month for China’s small investors, two-thirds of whom, according to a survey last year, have not finished high school .
  • (9) Do we have any reasons to suppose that any such miracles have occurred?
  • (10) Barcelona’s miracle worker Lionel Messi leaves Arsenal praying for one | Barney Ronay Read more City continue to monitor Messi’s situation should he become unsettled.
  • (11) HTB's services, the preaching, even the miracles, are all slick and informal and the atmosphere seems to most people genuinely friendly.
  • (12) If you want to be a contender for the Premier League, some things like this happen.” There was a glint in Pochettino’s eye as he reflected on the Chelsea game, in which nine of Spurs players were booked – a Premier League record – and it was a minor miracle no one was sent off.
  • (13) Given how empty the sea is, it was a miracle that his distress signal, transmitted to the ever-watchful Falmouth Coastguard, was picked up by a Chinese supertanker whose crew plucked him from the water minutes before his boat sank.
  • (14) And the marvellously named Victor Gauntlett, vintage-car driver and pilot, looks gloriously suburban haut-bourgeois, with his study full of The Miracle of Speed symbols in pictures and models, while the room's decoration and furnishings are all Home Counties 1919 in sympathies.
  • (15) The Good Soldier Schweik (1955) achieved the miracle of a West End run in 1956.
  • (16) That is not to belittle HIV – it is a life-changing condition, and some of the treatments have their side-effects – but, as HIV expert Prof Jonathan Weber put it to me, the treatment regimens developed in the mid-1990s are “so successful it’s like a miracle”.
  • (17) In fact, when you consider his position, it's a miracle he's not an eighty-a-day man.
  • (18) Our challenges are not those of tiger economies, suggesting their recipe of working harder for longer for less won't necessarily work miracles here.
  • (19) Here he gives Jennifer Lawrence her own vehicle: a fact-based comedy drama about a single mother of three who becomes a successful businesswoman after inventing the Miracle Mop.
  • (20) The spark for the longest-running protest in modern Tunisian history was lit on 17 December in the town of Sidi Bouzid, in the rural interior of Tunisia, a region of olive groves and agriculture which is racked by vast unemployment, repression and poverty a world away from the riches of the Tunisian tourist coast and the propaganda of Tunisia's "economic miracle".

Surprise


Definition:

  • (n.) The act of coming upon, or taking, unawares; the act of seizing unexpectedly; surprisal; as, the fort was taken by surprise.
  • (n.) The state of being surprised, or taken unawares, by some act or event which could not reasonably be foreseen; emotion excited by what is sudden and strange; a suddenly excited feeling of wonder or astonishment.
  • (n.) Anything that causes such a state or emotion.
  • (n.) A dish covered with a crust of raised paste, but with no other contents.
  • (n.) To come or fall suddenly and unexpectedly; to take unawares; to seize or capture by unexpected attack.
  • (n.) To strike with wonder, astonishment, or confusion, by something sudden, unexpected, or remarkable; to confound; as, his conduct surprised me.
  • (n.) To lead (one) to do suddenly and without forethought; to bring (one) into some unexpected state; -- with into; as, to be surprised into an indiscretion; to be surprised into generosity.
  • (n.) To hold possession of; to hold.

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.