Collocation Dictionary

Try "happy" or "love"

Searching for...

No matching words found

Try a different search term or browse the dictionary

Common collocations with surprise in British Collocation

surprise noun

UK /sə(r)ˈpraɪz/

big

big
great
huge
major
real

A big surprise was how much free info you can pick up.

pleasant

the best
delightful
lovely
nice
pleasant
welcome
wonderful

It is always a pleasant surprise to see who turns up.

unpleasant

nasty
unpleasant
unwelcome

unexpected

complete
total
unexpected

Looking through these log books often provides some unexpected surprises.

few/many

few
many

Log in and expect to find a wealth of high quality academic resources with a few surprises along the way!

be a surprise

be
bring
come as
contain
hold
offer
produce
provide

As usual, this year’s nominees offered a few surprises.

The final verdict was no surprise to me.

give someone a surprise

give someone
spring

Sometimes even descriptive poems work by springing surprises.

get a surprise

get
have
receive

Did you have any surprises?

reveal or spoil a surprise

reveal
spoil

I don’t want to be more specific or it will spoil the surprise!

event

appearance
attack
decision
move
party
visit

Inspectors make surprise visits to the facilities each year.

result

defeat
result
success
victory

It was a surprise victory for Kingston on Saturday night in a game that even they admitted they hadn’t expected to win.

person

guest
visitor
winner

We had a lovely lunch and our surprise guest was a great finale to the day.

statement

announcement

Debbie makes a surprise announcement.

gift

gift

We’ll make the graduate feel extra special with a surprise gift!

Pang Weiguo also has three wins, as does surprise package Mohsen Abulaziz of Qatar.