caught off guard

I was caught off guard by what came next.

“No one was caught off guard.”

Korn said that over the past decade, Nassau County had become much more hospitable to Republican candidates and that the Democrats were caught off guard in 2022, disorganized, and not ready to respond to the Republican messages around crime and immigration.

It’s a commonsense idea, but because Florida does not require sellers to disclose previous flooding events, recent buyers may be caught off guard.

One year on from the 7 October Hamas attacks, tough questions are still being asked within Israel about the deadliest day in its history, when the country's powerful army was caught off guard and swiftly overwhelmed.