wonders

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of wonder.

   The ancient world boasted seven great wonders.

   Explorers returned with tales of strange wonders from distant lands.

   Note

   Only the countable meanings of wonder take this plural: marvels like the seven wonders, astonishing turns of events, feats of skill that seem like magic, even gifted people. The feeling of awe itself is a mass noun with no plural. So wonders always counts things or occasions, never more of the feeling. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, as in she wonders.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of wonder.

   My grandmother wonders aloud whether she locked the door.

   The detective wonders who could have left the note.

   Note

   One form carries two meanings, and the construction tells them apart. Followed by at, it means marveling: a visitor wonders at a painted ceiling. Followed by whether, if or a question word, it means pondering: she wonders who called. The first expresses astonishment and the second expresses doubt and curiosity. Only the second takes a whole clause as its object.

   Everyone who visits wonders at the cathedral's painted ceiling.

   The boy still wonders at how far the comet traveled.

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