take aback

take aback: verb

surprise greatly; knock someone's socks off (Freq. 1)

- I was floored when I heard that I was promoted

• Syn: ↑shock, ↑floor, ↑ball over, ↑blow out of the water

• Derivationally related forms: ↑shock (for: ↑shock)

• Hypernyms: ↑surprise

• Hyponyms: ↑startle, ↑galvanize, ↑galvanise

• Verb Frames:

- Somebody ——s somebody

- Something ——s somebody

- The bad news will take aback him

- The good news will take aback her

- The performance is likely to take aback Sue

* * *

take aback [phrasal verb]

take (someone) aback : to surprise or shock (someone)

— usually used as (be) taken aback

When I told him my answer, he seemed taken aback. [=shocked]

— often + by

He was taken aback by her answer.

• • •

Main Entry: ↑take

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Synonyms:

take aback — If you are taken aback, it means that you re surprised or shocked by something … The small dictionary of idiomes
take aback — ► take aback shock or surprise (someone). Main Entry: ↑aback … English terms dictionary
take aback — verb a) To surprise or shock; to discomfit. I was rather taken aback by his angry reply. b) Of a ship: to catch it with the sails aback suddenly. The bad news took us aback … Wiktionary
take aback — Astonish, surprise, take by surprise, startle … New dictionary of synonyms
take aback — See: TAKEN BACK … Dictionary of American idioms
take aback — See: TAKEN BACK … Dictionary of American idioms
take aback — Synonyms and related words: abash, appall, astound, bowl down, bowl over, confound, discomfit, disconcert, dismay, electrify, frighten, jar, jolt, put out, shake, shock, stagger, startle, stun … Moby Thesaurus
take aback — surprise, astound; confuse, bewilder … English contemporary dictionary
take aback — to (be) cause(d) a feeling of surprise or astonishment, often also with disappointment or dismay … Idioms and examples
take aback — idi to surprise; disconcert … From formal English to slang

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