aback
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
surprised or shocked by something unexpected.
startled or disconcerted by a sudden development; almost exclusively used in the passive construction 'to be taken aback'.
Simple“I was taken aback by how much the city had changed since my last visit.”
In context“The CEO was visibly taken aback by the shareholders' blunt refusal to approve the proposed merger during the annual meeting.”
Teacher's tipLearners should treat 'taken aback' as a single lexical unit rather than trying to use 'aback' on its own.
- 02 C2 Proficiency
when the wind blows against the front of a ship's sails, pushing them back against the mast.
the state of a ship's square sails when pressed against the mast by a headwind. Used as a predicative adverb.
Simple“The ship was caught aback by a sudden change in the wind's direction.”
In context“The vessel was laid aback to reduce its headway, allowing the crew to safely lower the lifeboats into the swelling sea.”
Teacher's tipThis is the original nautical source of the common idiom; it is rarely encountered outside of maritime history or technical sailing manuals.
Almost always follows the verb 'to be' and the past participle 'taken'.
While 'take someone aback' is grammatically possible, the passive form 'be taken aback' is the standard idiomatic usage.
“The thing is, usually we cannot because we’ve got to work, we have kids, we’ve got to run, and so we’re taken aback by the changing needs of older people.”
From Middle English abak, from Old English onbæc, equivalent to a- (“towards”) + back. Compare West Frisian tebek (“aback”, adverb, literally “to/at back”), Swedish tillbaka (idem.).
From Latin abacus.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.