Word.ws English Dictionary

takes aback

takes aback is the third-person singular simple present indicative of take aback.

Meaning of take aback

Verb

take aback (third-person singular simple present takes aback, present participle taking aback, simple past took aback, past participle taken aback)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To surprise or shock; to discomfit.
    • I was rather taken aback by his angry reply.
  2. (passive, usually) Of a ship: to catch it with the sails aback suddenly.

Questions about takes aback

What is takes aback the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Takes aback is the third-person singular simple present indicative of take aback.

Words near takes aback in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: takes aback (page history and authors); take 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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