unawaresadverb
uk/ˌʌn.əˈweəz/us/ˌʌn.əˈwerz/suddenly and unexpectedly without any warning:
The overnight invasion took the military experts unawares.
The government was obviously caught unawares by (= was not expecting) the criticism.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Not expected or planned
- ad hoc
- ad hocism
- ad hockery
- ad lib
- ad-lib
- adventitious
- against (all) the odds/against all odds idiom
- explosive
- involuntary
- it's just one of those things idiom
- just like that idiom
- make sth up as you go along idiom
- muddle
- rude
- spur
- summary
- undreamed of
- unexpected
- unforeseen
- unintended
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