simple past tense and past participle of surprise
"She was surprised to receive a handwritten letter from her old teacher after twenty years."
In plain English: To surprise someone means to catch them off guard by doing something they did not expect.
"The sudden noise surprised us all into silence."
taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment
"surprised by her student's ingenuity"
"surprised that he remembered my name"
"a surprised expression"
Caused to feel surprise, amazement or wonder, or showing an emotion due to an unexpected event.
"The crowd was surprised when the quiet pianist launched into a thunderous solo without warning."
In plain English: Surprised means feeling shocked or unexpected when something happens that you did not see coming.
"She was surprised to see her old friend at the grocery store."
Usage: Use "surprised" as the past participle of the verb "to surprise," not as a synonym for being shocked into anger. It describes someone who feels pleasant or unpleasant astonishment because something happened unexpectedly.
Derived from Old French esprendre, this term originally meant to startle, awaken, or set in motion. It entered English via the past participle of esprier and evolved to describe being taken by surprise.