[Vocabulary] What does 'Much to my surprise' mean?

[saloom2]

Hello everyone,

I want to know what does 'much to my surprise' mean?

 

[5jj]

This very much surprised me.

 

[BobK]

:up: This sort of 'much to' works with quite a few 'reaction' words: BNC has these :

1 MUCH TO HER SURPRISE 15
2 MUCH TO MY SURPRISE 14
3 MUCH TO HIS SURPRISE 8
4 MUCH TO THEIR CREDIT 3
5 MUCH TO THEIR CHAGRIN 3
6 MUCH TO HIS TASTE 3
7 MUCH TO HIS ADVANTAGE 3
8 MUCH TO YOUR CREDIT 3
9 MUCH TO HER FATHER 2
10 MUCH TO HIS CREDIT 2
11 MUCH TO HIS LIKING 2
12 MUCH TO HER ANNOYANCE 2
13 MUCH TO HIS RELIEF 2
14 MUCH TO HIS REGRET 2
15 MUCH TO MY DISAPPOINTMENT 2
16 MUCH TO MY ASTONISHMENT 2
17 MUCH TO HIS DIRECTION 2
18 MUCH TO MY EMBARRASSMENT 2
19 MUCH TO MY DISTRESS 2
20 MUCH TO MY DISGUST 2
21 MUCH TO MY REGRET 2
22 MUCH TO THEIR DISAPPOINTMENT 2
23 MUCH TO MY HUSBAND 2
24 MUCH TO MY HORROR 2
25 MUCH TO THEIR SURPRISE 2
...

+ 83 others with a frequency of only 1. ;-)

But 'surprise' is by far and away the most common - my your and his account for about a fifth: 37 out of 181.

b