Synonyms for consternation
Most common
Definitions
- n. 1
Amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates for reflection; terror, combined with amazement; dismay.
Forms
- Plural
- consternations → astonishments, alarms, trepidations, fears…
Choose the right word
Consternation is overwhelming fear, and carries a notion of powerlessness and amazement. Alarm agitates the feelings; terror disorders the understanding and affects the will; fright seizes on and confuses the sense; consternation takes possession of the soul, and subdues its faculties.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Example sentences
- fear I wrote his name down for fear I should forget it.
- dismay To my dismay, he was caught cheating in the examination.
- astonishment Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
- trepidation We are waiting with trepidation to be proved wrong.
- distraction Yanni is Skura's distraction from her painful life.
- bewilderment Boldi looked in Martha's direction in bewilderment.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| consternation | rising | |
| fear | rising | |
| dismay | rising | |
| astonishment | rising | |
| trepidation | rising | |
| distraction | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- awe1
- 4 letters
- fear1, fere, feer
- 5 letters
- alarm2, panic2, scare1, dread1
- 6 letters
- horror2, terror2, dismay2, fright1
- 8 letters
- affright
- 11 letters
- distraction3, trepidation4
- 12 letters
- astonishment4, bewilderment4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (alarm2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- consternation
- Italiano
- costernazione