Library / English Dictionary

TAKE ABACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Surprise greatly; knock someone's socks off

Example:

I was floored when I heard that I was promoted

Synonyms:

ball over; blow out of the water; floor; shock; take aback

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "take aback" is one way to...):

surprise (cause to be surprised)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take aback"):

galvanise; galvanize; startle (to stimulate to action)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will take aback him

The good news will take aback her

The performance is likely to take aback Sue

Credits