ADJ
- great, utter
- mild, some
- initial
- After the initial surprise I got to like the place
- mock
- His eyebrows rose in mock surprise
QUANT
- element
- The Egyptian team relied on the element of surprise to defeat their stronger opponents
VERB + SURPRISE
- express, register, show
- feign
- He feigned surprise when I went up and said hello
- hide
- She was quick to hide her surprise
- cause
- The president's remarks caused surprise and embarrassment
PREP
- in ~
- 'Walk twenty miles!' repeated the old man in surprise
- to your ~
- Much to her surprise she enjoyed the party
- with/without ~
- It was with some surprise that I read of his resignation
- ~ at
- She showed no surprise at the news
PHRASES
- an expression/a look of surprise, a gasp/scream/shriek, etc. of surprise
ADJ
- big, complete, great, major, total
- lovely, nice, pleasant, wonderful
VERB + SURPRISE
- come as
- get, have
- I had a lovely surprise when I saw Mark there
- spring
- Johnson sprung a surprise by beating the favourite in the first round
- be in for
- Your mother's in for a bit of a surprise when she gets home
- catch sb by, take sb by
- The storm took us completely by surprise
SURPRISE + NOUN
- announcement, attack, party, victory, visit
PREP
- ~ for
- It was a complete surprise for me
- ~ to
- His refusal came as no surprise to his boss
PHRASES
- a bit of a/quite a surprise