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Glite Dictionary
to walk in on

to walk in on

47 4.1
To go into a room and see something private by accident
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : entrar de improviso en
  • Your father walked in on me, April, just like you did.
  • accidentally walk in on
  • walk in on your parents
  • walk in on your wife

Two days later he walked in on me kissing his best friend and his roommate.

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Examples

  • I guess I was afraid that one of them would walk in on us.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • "My God," I said, "he almost walked in on a killing."

    Fiction book (1992)

  • I didn't mean to walk in on you.

    The Exorcism (2024)

  • An Atlanta lawyer was shot to death after she apparently walked in on a burglary at her home.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Alex's mother often walked in on her son watching strange programs.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We talked for hours where it started with me apologizing for walking in on him and that I didn't mean to.

  • I was embarrassed when I walked in on my friends while they were changing.

  • Last week, I walked in on my sister talking on the phone about a surprise party she was planning.

  • He accidentally walked in on a meeting and saw confidential documents on the table.

Synonyms

to burst in on
vsto walk in on
3 5.2

Go into a room or conversation suddenly and interrupt people

sees private or secret things by accident rather than interrupting others

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

to leave alone
∞ 2.3

To avoid touching and disturbing a person, animal or object

How Intrusive

to barge in
  • Informal
59 5.5
to walk in on
47 4.1
to walk into
211 3.5

Surface Forms

walk in on infinitive
walked in on past
walked in on past participle
walking in on present participle
walks in on third person singular

Morphology

walk + in + on

The core sense 'to enter' is clearly derivable from 'walk' + 'in', so a learner knowing those words can guess part of the meaning; however the additional nuance of unexpectedly encountering someone or seeing something private comes from the particle 'on' and the phrasal-prepositional construction, which is somewhat idiomatic and not fully predictable. Because the meaning is partially compositional but depends on English particle usage that varies across languages, this MWE is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

The phrasal verb walk in on comes from the simple image of someone walking in and suddenly being on the scene of a private moment, like a secret talk or someone changing clothes. So it means 'to enter a place and see something private or unexpected'.