[Vocabulary] amazed vs astonished

[elenah]

Hello there,
Can you help me to see the difference between amazed and astonished please?
They seem to have a similar meaning but what makes them different? When do we use one and the other? Are there any rules?
Thank you very much

 

[Rover_KE]

There are no rules. They are usually synonymous.

 

[jutfrank]

Elenah -- there are no 'rules' that you can use to tell you the differences in meaning between two words of the same class. If you look up the words in a good dictionary, read the examples of use given, and if you still cannot sense any difference, you can conclude that they are practically synonymous.

But if you are still not satisfied, then the etymology part of the dictionary entries will often help you make a distinction.