mirabile dictu
- idiom
- /mɪˈrɑːbɪleɪ ˈdɪktu/
- Archaic
:
¡maravilloso!
- The ancient manuscript was, mirabile dictu, found intact after centuries.
Examples
-
She finished the marathon in record time—mirabile dictu—despite her injury.
-
He won the lottery, mirabile dictu!
-
The underdog team won the championship, and the crowd exclaimed, mirabile dictu.
-
Mirabile dictu, she finished the marathon!
-
The underdog team won the championship, and the crowd exclaimed, mirabile dictu.
-
She finished the marathon in record time—mirabile dictu—despite her injury.
-
The ancient manuscript was, mirabile dictu, found intact after centuries.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Before a noun in an exclamation to show surprise or strong feeling
347
8.9
An angry or surprised question showing you do not believe something
90
8.9
A short cry to show surprise, confusion, disbelief, or casual acceptance
68
9.8
A short phrase showing surprise and not believing what someone said
36
9.4
A short sound people say to show surprise or admiration
31
8.7
A quiet sound people make when they are surprised or impressed
26
9.9
A strong phrase people say when they are very surprised or shocked
17
9.4
A short informal cry showing surprise or strong feeling
16
8.3
A short sound people say to show surprise or excitement
8
2.6
Words people say when they are surprised to see something
5
7.5
A short phrase people say to show surprise or shock
4
9.5
A short word people say when they are surprised or shocked
3
8.4
A short sound people make when they suddenly understand something
3
9.9
A short sound people make to show surprise or admiration
3
9.6
To say when you are very surprised or shocked
1
9.9
A short informal word people say to show surprise or shock
To show you are surprised something happened
A short phrase people say to show surprise or confusion
To say or write a short exclamation to show surprise
A short word people say to show surprise, admiration, or excitement
A short shout that shows surprise or mild anger
A shout used to show great joy or surprise
A short phrase people say to show surprise at something strange
A short cry of surprise when something is hard to believe
An old word that people say to show surprise or strong feeling
A word people used long ago to show surprise
An old word people say to show surprise or strong feeling
A strong old word people say to show surprise or shock
A loud informal shout that shows surprise, shock, or strong annoyance
An old word people say to show surprise, anger, or shock
A short phrase people say to show surprise or strong feeling, often jokingly
A word you say to show surprise or strong feeling
Said to show surprise or doubt
A short cry of surprise used to sound French
A phrase that sounds French used to show surprise, often jokingly
A short shout to show surprise or amazement
To show surprise or doubt
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
mirabile + dictu
This is a Latin fixed exclamation whose parts are not English words (the provided entries are '[Word not found in dictionary]'), so an average B1 English learner who only knows the constituent items in English would not be able to analyse or derive the meaning. As a set foreign interjection the sense ('wonderful to say' / expression of surprise) is idiomatic and not compositionally recoverable for typical learners, making it opaque.
Etymology
Mirabile dictu comes from Latin words mirabile and dictu that mean 'wonderful to say'. People used it in writing to show wonder, so today it is used as an exclamation to show 'surprise'.