take aback

present singular third person takes aback · participle present taking aback · past took aback · participle past taken aback

1. idiomatictransitiveTo surprise or shock; to discomfit.

   The bad news took us aback.

   5 more examples

   I was rather taken aback by his angry reply.

   I was, at first, a little taken aback and astounded at the bulk of the volume; but, I turned out early this morning, and with eager hope and expectation set doggedly to work in search of the promised consolation.

   1807, William Cobbett, Cobbett's Political Register, Vol. XI., London: Cox and Baylis, page 121

   I would rather board a hundred of the enemy's frigates, than steer my boat into a fleet of modest women, for a modest woman never fails to take me aback.

   1808, The Post-Captain: A View of Naval Society and Manners, 3rd edition, London: Thomas Tegg, page 165

   Frank was taken aback when Lisa told him that she also needed forgiveness from him, for actions, for words, and for unspoken thoughts.

   1998, Penelope Fitzgerald, The Beginning of Spring, Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 156

   In a way, he was taken aback by the absence of discouragement.

   2000, Rupert Thomson, Soft!, page 292

2. passiveusuallynauticalOf a ship: to catch it with the sails aback suddenly.