Translation guide
Expresses that something is surprising or amazing to a high degree. Japanese often uses adverbs, sentence-ending particles, or descriptive phrases rather than a single direct equivalent.
astonishingly fast
astonishingly beautiful
The most common use: describing an action or quality that is remarkably high in degree.
Literally 'to the extent of being surprised'. A versatile adverb that can modify verbs and adjectives.
He ran astonishingly fast.
The dish was astonishingly delicious.
Means 'miraculously' or 'phenomenally'. Slightly more formal and emphasizes an extraordinary, almost unbelievable degree.
Her memory is astonishingly excellent.
Literally 'to an unbelievable extent'. Very common in spoken Japanese.
It's astonishingly hot today.
Casual, literally 'to the extent of being startled'. Common in everyday conversation.
The movie was astonishingly interesting.
When 'astonishingly' introduces a sentence to comment on the surprising nature of an event.
Both mean 'astonishingly', but 信じられないほど is more colloquial and emphasizes disbelief, while 驚くほど is neutral and can be used in both speech and writing.
Do not directly translate 'astonishingly' as a single adverb in all cases. Japanese often embeds the sense of surprise in the verb or adjective phrase, or uses sentence-initial phrases like 驚いたことに.
Astonishingly, there is not a single traffic light in that town.