unawares

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As the plane door opened, the couple were caught unawares.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2025

All of those clips are mesmerizing and alluring and haunting, as if we’re actually looking at invisible spirits or fairies captured unawares.

From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2024

Because forecasters were caught unawares, so were local residents, who only expected perhaps a Category 2 storm.

From Scientific American • Oct. 25, 2023

They were taken unawares and couldn't salvage anything, she tells me as beads of tears roll down her face.

From BBC • Oct. 18, 2023

‘We may not shoot an old man so, at unawares and unchallenged, whatever fear or doubt be on us. Watch and wait!’

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien