by surprise
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.
Apple’s price hikes caught much of the industry by surprise given their size and scope.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Hearing about the practice took me by surprise — the farm did what with that milk? — so I asked about it again.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
The SpaceX stock surge of the past few days has taken even some bullish investors by surprise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Some of them squawked about the slush fund in ways that took me by surprise.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2026
On Wednesday, May 23, a few days before the end of the school year, Miss Scalapino took me by surprise.
From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez
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.
