Word.ws English Dictionary

taken aback

taken aback adjective: surprised, shocked. Also the past participle of take aback.

Adjective

taken aback (comparative more taken aback, superlative most taken aback)

  1. (figuratively) Surprised, shocked.
    • It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
  2. Said of a ship, when the wind, suddenly changing, forces the sails aft against the mast.

Also used as

taken aback is also the past participle of take aback.

taken aback meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Gujarati

taken aback in Hindi

surprised, shocked
चकित cakit

taken aback in Marathi

surprised, shocked
चकित cakit

taken aback in Bengali

surprised, shocked
চমকে ওঠা comke ōṭha, হতচকিত হওয়া hotcokito hōẇa

taken aback in Gujarati

surprised, shocked
ચકિત cakit
More languagesFewer languages
taken aback in Vietnamese
sửng sốt, ngạc nhiên

Forms of taken aback

comparativemore taken aback
superlativemost taken aback

Origin of taken aback

From taken + aback, first attested in 1840.

Questions about taken aback

What does taken aback mean?
Taken aback means surprised, shocked.
What is taken aback in Hindi?
Taken aback in Hindi is चकित (cakit). See Taken aback meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is taken aback?
Taken aback is an adjective.

Words near taken aback in the dictionary

  1. taken a wicket
  2. taken a wife
  3. taken a wiz
  4. taken a wizz
  5. taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque
  6. taken aback
  7. taken account of
  8. taken across
  9. taken action
  10. taken advantage of
  11. taken after

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taken aback (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-taken aback.wav.

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