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WotD: Take aback
The world, from Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, has been taken aback.
The phrase take someone aback means to surprise or shock someone, usually when they don’t see it coming.
If someone is taken aback, it’s because something sudden, unusual or unexpected has happened.
For example, if a political leader says something out of character, you might feel taken aback.
For instance, when Donald Trump or Steven Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, says America must have Greenland, the world is taken aback.
Donald Trump and his government often take people aback, both in the United States and around the world.
Many are surprised by his unexpected social media posts and public statements.
By now, you’d think we’d expect the unexpected, but things have become so beyond the pale that what used to be surprising now seems unbelievable.
For example, images of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on American streets, detaining people at random, have left many citizens and politicians taken aback.
International leaders have also been taken aback by some of his government’s decisions, such as changes in foreign policy, the reinstatement of the Monroe Doctrine, and the use of a trade war for protectionism.
These actions still surprise experts because they are so different from what past presidents did.
To sum up, take aback means to surprise or shock someone.
It’s a handy way to talk about feeling surprised, whether in daily life or big political events.
The actions of Donald Trump and his government show how people can be taken aback by unthinkable actions.
Try using take aback in your conversations when you want to describe something surprising!
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 13).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 65.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
