consternation

English

WOTD – 5 December 2009, 5 December 2010

Etymology

From French consternation, from Latin consternātiō. By surface analysis, consternate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒn.stəˈneɪ.ʃən/
• (US) enPR: kŏnʹstər.nā'shən, IPA^(key): /ˌkɑn.stɚˈneɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

consternation (countable and uncountable, plural consternations)

1. Amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates for reflection; terror, combined with amazement; dismay.
   • 1899, Kate Chopin, The Awakening:

     "Out!" exclaimed her husband, with something like genuine consternation in his voice.

   • 2003, Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, chapter 17, in Deadly Reunion:

     Their audience had been listening in increasing consternation.

   • 2006 February 27, Chuck Klosterman, “Invention's New Mother”, in Esquire‎^[1], archived from the original on 20 July 2019:

     It was probably worth four millennia of consternation and regret.

   • 2026 April 5, Howard LaFranchi, “Trump’s war in Iran puts new strain on alliances. Why this time it’s different.”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[2], Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 April 2026:

     And privately, some European officials are sharing mounting consternation over the U.S. conduct of the Iran war that they say with each passing week is moving further away from the international rules of engagement and values that underpin the NATO alliance.

Related terms

• consternate

Translations

amazement or horror; terror, combined with amazement; dismay

• Armenian: սարսափ (hy) (sarsapʻ), ահ (hy) (ah), զարհուրանք (hy) (zarhurankʻ)
• Bulgarian: смайване (bg) n (smajvane), ужас (bg) m (užas)
• Catalan: consternació f, abatiment m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 驚愕 / 惊愕 (zh) (jīng'è)

• Czech: konsternace f
• Danish: bestyrtelse c
• Dutch: consternatie (nl) f, verbijstering (nl) f
• Esperanto: konsterno (eo)
• Finnish: tyrmistys (fi)
• French: consternation (fr) f, sidération (fr) f, accablement (fr) m, prostration (fr) f
• German: Bestürzung (de) f, Fassungslosigkeit (de) f
• Greek: τρόμος (el) m (trómos), ανησυχία (el) f (anisychía)

  Ancient Greek: ἔκπληξις f (ékplēxis)

• Hebrew: תַּדְהֵמָה (he), בִּלְבּוּל (he), חֲרָדָה (he), פַּחַד (he)
• Hungarian: megdöbbenés (hu), szörnyülködés, megrökönyödés (hu)
• Irish: anbhá m
• Italian: costernazione (it) f
• Japanese: 驚愕 (ja) (きょうがく, kyōgaku), 狼狽 (ja) (rōbai)
• Korean: 대경실색(大驚失色) (daegyeongsilsaek)
• Latin: consternātiō f
• Malayalam: പരിഭ്രാന്തി (ml) (paribhrānti)
• Manx: ard-yindys m
• Māori: pororaru, pōraruraru
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bestyrtelse m

• Polish: konsternacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: consternação (pt) f
• Romanian: consternație (ro) f, consternare (ro) f
• Russian: у́жас (ru) m (úžas), оцепене́ние (ru) n (ocepenénije), испу́г (ru) m (ispúg)
• Scottish Gaelic: maoim f
• Serbo-Croatian: preneraženost (sh) f
• Spanish: consternación (es) f, abatimiento (es), postración (es)
• Swedish: bestörtning (sv), häpnad (sv)
• Turkish: dehşet (tr)
• Yiddish: קאָנסטערנאַציע f (konsternatsye)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnsternātiōnem. Morphologically, from consterner +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃s.tɛʁ.na.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

consternation f (plural consternations)

1. consternation
   • 1957, Thomas Baudouin, Iñés, Nouvelles Éditions Latines, page 4:

     Un soir pluvieux, Corinne laissa entendre qu'elle était amoureuse. J'allais m'en montrer consterné mais je craignis que ma consternation ne prêtât à confusion et ne fût mal interprétée : il ne fallait pas qu'elle m’imaginât épris d'elle.

     One rainy day, Corinne hinted that she was in love. I was about to show dismay about it, but I feared that my dismay would lead to confusion and be misinterpreted. She should not imagine me in love with her.

Descendants

• English: consternation

Further reading

• “consternation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012