surprisingly; astonishingly; to a surprising degree
Expresses that something is surprising or remarkable in degree; often used adverbially to modify adjectives or verbs.
I was able to solve the problem surprisingly easily.
This town is surprisingly quiet.
非常に is a neutral intensifier meaning 'extremely' with no implication of surprise, whereas 驚くほど specifically conveys that the degree itself is astonishing.
驚くべき is an adjective meaning 'surprising' that directly modifies a noun (驚くべき事実), while 驚くほど is an adverb meaning 'to a surprising degree' that modifies a verb or adjective.
Standard kanji-kana spelling; the most frequent written form.
Variant using the kanji 程; less common but still encountered.
Phrase composed of the verb 驚く (to be surprised) in its attributive form + the particle ほど (extent), literally 'to the extent that one is surprised'.