Meaning & use

blindside

verb·Advanced

To attack, criticize, or affect someone unexpectedly, catching them completely off guard.

See it in a sentence

The sudden layoff announcement blindsided employees who had heard nothing about it beforehand.

He was blindsided by the question and struggled to give a coherent answer.

A note on using this word

Blindside comes from American football, where a blindside tackle hits a player from a direction he cannot see.

Words with a similar meaning

ambushcatch off guardsurprise

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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