taken aback
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the start of Jeremy Vine's show on Radio 2 at midday, Vine said he was "taken aback by the story" and that he had "no further information" about it.
From BBC
The man was clearly taken aback, some of the other patrons chuckling in surprise, the Dodger pulse of this town clearly resonating in a completely unusual fashion.
From Los Angeles Times
"Prime Minister Takaichi viscerally reacted, her eyes widening and her smile disappearing as she leaned back, drawing her hands in, clearly taken aback by the sudden mention of Pearl Harbor," she said.
From BBC
Ba blinked at me, clearly taken aback that I was taking charge.
From Literature
“I know that,” Theo says through the door, and I think I hear him stammer a little, taken aback by my fury.
From Literature
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.
