off (one's) guard
- idiom
- He was caught off his guard by the sudden announcement.
Examples
-
The sudden question caught her off her guard during the meeting.
-
She was completely off her guard when the camera flash went off unexpectedly.
-
If you let yourself become off her guard, you might miss important details.
-
Don't let your guard down; you might be off your guard.
-
She was completely off her guard when the camera flash went off unexpectedly.
-
The sudden question caught her off her guard during the meeting.
-
He was caught off his guard by the sudden announcement.
Synonyms
69
4.2
Not ready or paying attention when something happens
57
4.1
Surprised and not ready for something that happens suddenly
50
4.2
Not aware that someone might harm or trick you
28
2.8
A lack of thought about possible danger or consequences
22
6.8
Not paying attention and easily surprised by danger or chance
13
4.9
Not ready or alert when something surprises you
3
5.1
Not careful about what you say or do, so you reveal more than you want
1
6.7
Not careful about possible danger or harm
1
7.2
Not ready and not paying attention when something surprises you
Not paying attention and not ready for danger or surprise
Surprised and not ready to deal with a sudden problem
Not watching carefully for danger or problems
Not paying attention makes you miss danger or problems
Not careful in what you say or do
Not aware of danger or risk
Antonyms
How Alert
71
6.0
45
3.5
127
2.8
185
3.1
168
2.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'off' (away/not) plus 'guard' (protection/alertness): together they denote being 'not guarded' or 'not paying attention'. This is a straightforward negation of being 'on guard' and matches common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings should understand it.
Etymology
Off (one's) guard comes from the image of a guard stepping off their post so the guard is not watching. So, when you are off (your) guard, you are 'not prepared' or 'not paying attention', and can be surprised or caught by a problem.