taken aback
English
    
    
Adjective
    
taken aback (comparative more taken aback, superlative most taken aback)
- (figuratively) Surprised, shocked.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:- 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.
 
 
- (nautical) Said of a ship, when the wind, suddenly changing, forces the sails aft against the mast.
Translations
    
surprised, shocked
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