unawares

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.

When asked why the riverside summer camp was not evacuated, officials said the sudden scale of the deluge caught them unawares.

From BBC • Jul. 6, 2025

The entire plot is driven by Blackthorne’s revelation that even the Christian lords’ European allies are secretly building an army with which they intend to take all of Japan unawares.

From New York Times • Apr. 23, 2024

Because forecasters were caught unawares, so were local residents, who only expected perhaps a Category 2 storm.

From Scientific American • Oct. 25, 2023

Or perhaps radioactivity would bring about a dystopian nightmare: As Rutherford liked to say, "Some fool in a laboratory might blow up the universe unawares" by triggering a planetary chain reaction.

From Salon • Aug. 12, 2023

‘We may not shoot an old man so, at unawares and unchallenged, whatever fear or doubt be on us. Watch and wait!’

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien