Learn English – one-word synonym for “unwelcome surprise”

single-word-requestssynonyms

Or anything along the lines of that (unpleasant surprise amounts to about the same thing). As in,

He/She found an unwelcome surprise waiting for them.

Unwelcome/unpleasant surprise would work in this context, but I feel I have used it too often, and need a change.

Thank you!

Best Answer

Consider shock (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary):

[countable, usually singular, uncountable] a strong feeling of surprise as a result of something happening, especially something unpleasant; the event that causes this feeling

As you have a number of “unwelcome surprises” in your text I would reserve shock for the really bad ones. Here are some examples of actual use (my boldface):

Prokofiev had a shock waiting for him in Chicago regarding Oranges. After arriving in town on 31 October he wrote to Johnson requesting a meeting to settle their disagreement "peacefully." The letter he received in return on 2 November did not contain anything about an appointment, rather it bore the news that two weeks ago a telegram had been sent to him in France stating that Oranges had been canceled permanently.
[Stephen D. Press, Prokofiev’s Ballets for Diaghilev, 2006.]

Our return to England was homecoming in many ways, but there was a shock waiting for me when we reached the hotel at Rye. I was handed a cablegram: “Don't come home. I am in good hands. Mother.” The rest of the day was frantic. Heart Attack? Stroke? Paralysis?
[Doris McCarthy, Doris McCarthy: My Life, 2006.]

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