marvel

American  

[mahr-vuhl] / ˈmɑr vəl /

noun

1. something that causes wonder, admiration, or astonishment; a wonderful thing; a wonder or prodigy.

   The new bridge is an engineering marvel.

2. Archaic. the feeling of wonder; astonishment.

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verb (used with object)

marveled, marveling, marvelled, marvelling

1. to wonder at (usually followed by a clause as object).

   I marvel that you were able to succeed against such odds.

2. to wonder or be curious about (usually followed by a clause as object).

   A child marvels that the stars can be.

verb (used without object)

marveled, marveling, marvelled, marvelling

1. to be filled with wonder, admiration, or astonishment, as at something surprising or extraordinary.

   I marvel at your courage.

marvel British  

/ ˈmɑːvəl /

verb

1. to be filled with surprise or wonder

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noun

1. something that causes wonder

2. archaic astonishment

Other Word Forms

• marvelment noun

Etymology

Origin of marvel

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English mervel, from Old French merveil(l)e, from Late Latin mīrābilia “marvels,” noun use of neuter plural of Latin mīrābilis “marvelous”; admirable

Example Sentences

Programmers combing through the source code so far have marveled on social media at some of Anthropic’s tricks for getting its Claude AI models to operate as Claude Code.

From The Wall Street Journal

The clip is worth watching, and not just to marvel yet again at Vance’s ability to make idiotic statements in the self-assured tone of the smartest boy in the room.

From Salon

He marveled at Epstein’s hold on so many people.

From Barron's

There were murmurs of wonder, marveling at who had pulled her from the river.

From Literature

Users who made it found it to be a marvel: type in anything they wanted—Homer Simpson doing Riverdance—and a 10-second video of it would appear in a few minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• genius
• miracle