unawares
1
7.2
- adverb
- /ˌʌnəˈwɛrz/
:
sin darse cuenta
- The sudden thunderstorm caught us unawares, leaving us soaked and surprised.
- caught unawares
- took him unawares
Examples
-
This attitude was revised to one of awed respect an hour later, when I was hastily summoned to the forest's edge to dress the wounds of a man who had, as I surmised, stumbled over the beast unawares in the fog.
Fiction book (1991) -
Her voice came at him, hard and low, a bullet that caught him unawares.
Fiction book (1998) -
I am sorry for catching you unawares.
-
It's no kindness to send a man into the next world unawares.
-
It's part of life, the ups and downs of the unexpected, catching you unawares and putting you off balance.
Blog text (31) -
As we get older, we are increasingly aware of those little intimations of mortality that creep on us unawares.
Blog text (28) -
Just when he thought he was becoming proficient at guessing her thoughts, she said something that took him unawares.
Fiction book (1991) -
Like both Hemingway and Carver, Ware can catch you unawares with how warm he can be.
Blog text (12) -
The Islamists, the radical Islamists were caught unawares, as were the autocrats.
-
She walked into the room quietly, catching him unawares as he was lost in thought.
Synonyms
170
4.2
Happening suddenly without any warning
99
2.3
Happening without any warning
43
4.5
Coming without telling anyone first
1
7.4
Happening suddenly without warning
1
5.9
Without thinking anything is wrong
In a way people do not expect
How Unexpected
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Unawares comes from un- 'not' and aware 'watchful' or 'knowing', so it originally meant 'not watchful' and is used when something happens 'by surprise'.