caught flat-footed

Idioms

Caught unprepared, taken by surprise, as in The reporter's question caught the President flat-footed. This usage comes from one or another sport in which a player should be on his or her toes, ready to act. [c. 1900]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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caught flat-footed

OpenAI was caught flat-footed after Anthropic released a new version of its coding tool Claude Code last fall, but has since poured more resources into its Codex coding assistant and prioritized sales to business customers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026

Unable to trap West Ham with a high press, United were caught flat-footed by an incisive break.

From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026

And the Senate Democrats were especially caught flat-footed because they were figuring it wouldn’t get out of the House.

From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2025

They don’t want to get caught flat-footed at a time when the state of the industry is already tenuous because of pay-TV cord-cutting, streaming losses and other factors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2024

It was natural that such an excuse would be offered when the fellows were caught flat-footed.

From Interference and Other Football Stories by Sherman, Harold Morrow

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023