Skip to main content
unsurprisingly

unsurprisingly

19 3.7
In a way people expect to happen
  • adverb
  • /ˌʌn.sərˈpraɪ.zɪŋ.li/
translation icon : como era de esperar
  • As for MI5 and the police, unsurprisingly, they would not cooperate with my research.
  • perhaps unsurprisingly
  • then unsurprisingly
  • given unsurprisingly

And when summer passed, unsurprisingly, so did my motivation.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Perhaps unsurprisingly, they responded to a tabloid-style question with a tabloid-style response.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Some thought it was appropriate; unsurprisingly, others did not.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Because, unsurprisingly, it's you I want to talk to.

  • And when summer passed, unsurprisingly, so did my motivation.

  • The layout was, unsurprisingly, nothing like what it had once been.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Unsurprisingly, many critics have attempted to address the question of why this series became so popular.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Unsurprisingly, the girls' hotel was nicer than our hotel.

  • Unsurprisingly, Goddard denied all knowledge of the printing of "God Save the Rights of Man."

    Academic text (2016)
  • In looking up auction prices for wild fur, I learned—unsurprisingly—that his own were inflated far beyond market value.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Unsurprisingly, the test results indicated that she was the top student in her class.

Synonyms

naturally
vsunsurprisingly
294 1.0

As expected, without surprise

is simply a general lack of surprise, not claiming logical necessity
predictably
vsunsurprisingly
31 3.4

In a way people expect

is about lack of surprise without implying prediction
expectedly
vsunsurprisingly
1 3.5

As most people thought would happen

is broader, meaning merely not surprising rather than being anticipated
expectably
vsunsurprisingly
3.9

In a way people thought would happen

is plain notice of unsurprising outcome, not stressing expectation
unexceptionally
vsunsurprisingly
4.4

In a normal way with no surprises

is about being unsurprising rather than just being ordinary

Antonyms

272 2.5

In a way that people do not expect

How Surprising

shockingly
38 4.8
astonishingly
21 4.0
surprisingly
272 2.5
unsurprisingly
19 3.7
predictably
31 3.4

Surface Forms

unsurprisingly positive

Morphology

unsurprisingly = unsurprising (transparent) = un + surprise + ing + ly

Formed by adding the adverbial suffix '-ly' to 'unsurprising'; the derivation is a regular adverbial formation from a transparent adjective.

Etymology

The word unsurprisingly is made from un- ('not'), surprise (an old idea of 'taking someone off guard'), and -ly (which turns it into a word that tells how something was done). So unsurprisingly means 'not in a surprising way' or 'as you would expect'.