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.

Still, when ChatGPT arrived in late 2022, Amazon was caught flat-footed.

From The Wall Street Journal

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

From Barron's

“And the city got caught flat-footed trying to keep up.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Caught flat-footed by the success of that video app, then owned by ByteDance, Instagram launched Reels in August 2020.

From The Wall Street Journal

Caught flat-footed, Google declared its own “code red” that year as it raced to catch up.

From The Wall Street Journal

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