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caught flat-footed

Idioms

Caught unprepared, taken by surprise, as in The reporter's question caught the President flat-footed. This usage comes from one or another sport in which a player should be on his or her toes, ready to act. [c. 1900]

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.

OpenAI was caught flat-footed after Anthropic released a new version of its coding tool Claude Code last fall, but has since poured more resources into its Codex coding assistant and prioritized sales to business customers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Unable to trap West Ham with a high press, United were caught flat-footed by an incisive break.

From Barron's • Feb. 10, 2026

Marrone’s firefighters poured into Pacific Palisades that morning to assist the city, which had been caught flat-footed after staffing a fraction of its available engines amid a parched landscape and forecasts of life-threatening winds.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2025

But Newsom had just admitted he was also caught flat-footed, too.

From Slate • Jul. 31, 2024

It was natural that such an excuse would be offered when the fellows were caught flat-footed.

From Interference and Other Football Stories by Sherman, Harold Morrow

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023