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# aback

«aback» in Mova's school dictionary: **to be surprised or shocked by something unexpected, so…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (taken aback)

### meaning for a pupil

To be taken aback means to be surprised or shocked by something unexpected, so that you are thrown off balance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aback/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

how characters react to a sudden surprise or harsh words; a bird or child who is startled but not hurt

### examples

- I was taken aback when Sam shouted my name. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aback/#x1)
- She was taken aback by the news. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aback/#x2)
- The little bird was taken aback by the sharp words. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aback/#x3)
- Dad was taken aback at how late it was. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aback/#x4)

### note

nothing for maths

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «aback» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aback/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.