Wondrous Meaning
/ˈwʌndɹəs/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjWonderful; amazing, inspiring awe; marvelous.
advIn a wonderful degree; remarkably; wondrously.
Sentence Examples
Everything was bathed in a wondrous blue light.
It's a story full of gnomes, elves, fairies, and other similar wondrous characters.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ beauty of the northern lights amazed all viewers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The northern lights are a ____ sight that everyone should try to see at least once in their life today.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I'll show thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee berries; / I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. / A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! / I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee, / Thou wondrous man."
— 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
"VVhen I ſurvey the vvondrous Croſs / VVhere the young Prince of Glory dy'd, / My richeſt Gain I count but Loſs, / And pour Contempt on all my Pride."
— 1707, I[saac] Watts, “Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ; Gal[atians] 6. 14. [When I Survey the Wondrous Cross]”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs. […], London: […] J. Humfreys, for John Lawrence, […], →OCLC, book III (Prepared for the Holy Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper), stanza 1, page 189:
"And looking vp, when as his shield he lakt, / And sword saw not, he wexed wondrous woe"
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 53:
"[…]And even there, his eye being big with tears, / Turning his face, he put his hand behind him, / And with affection wondrous sensible / He [Antonio] wrung Bassanio's hand; and so they parted."
— c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii]:
"As by the dead we love to sit, / Become so wondrous dear, / As for the lost we grapple, / Though all the rest are here,—"
— a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “As by the dead we love to sit”, in Mabel Loomis Todd and T[homas] W[entworth] Higginson, editors, Poems, Second Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1891, page 193:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ beauty of the northern lights amazed all viewers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The northern lights are a ____ sight that everyone should try to see at least once in their life today.