flat-footed
Britishadjective
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having flatfoot
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informal
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clumsy or awkward
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downright and uncompromising
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informal off guard or unawares (often in the phrase catch flat-footed )
Other Word Forms
- flat-footedly adverb
- flat-footedness noun
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 • Feb. 27, 2026
“And the city got caught flat-footed trying to keep up.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 18, 2026
With Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk flat-footed, Wilson scampered onto the through ball and planted a composed finish past Alisson Becker.
From Barron's • Jan. 4, 2026
Another staffer tells me: "There is no fire, no passion, no vision – we are timid and flat-footed."
From BBC • Sep. 27, 2025
I stood waiting, bent forward with my feet apart, flat-footed, till they ended their interminable orations.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
