Word.ws English Dictionary

taking aback

taking aback is the present participle and gerund 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 taking aback

What is taking aback the present participle and gerund of?
Taking aback is the present participle and gerund of take aback.

Words near taking aback in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking 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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