"take by surprise" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> by surprise"
      },
      "expansion": "take by surprise (third-person singular simple present takes by surprise, present participle taking by surprise, simple past took by surprise, past participle taken by surprise)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 March 23, Barry Neild, “Borat's version of Kazakh anthem played at Kuwait medal ceremony”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Kazakhstan's shooting team was taken by surprise when a spoof national anthem from the film Borat was used at a medal ceremony in Kuwait.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 June 12, Julian Borger, “US to suspend military exercises with South Korea, Trump says”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Both the South Korean government and US forces in the region appear to have been taken by surprise by Trump’s declared suspension of joint exercises.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 December 13, 'Industry Insider', “Delivering a robust timetable”, in RAIL, number 998, page 68:",
          "text": "No substitute bus services could be organised, and it is almost as though the train operator has been taken by surprise by the non-attendance of staff who appear to have made themselves unavailable - whether or not the diagram concerned was covered by overtime.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To occur to someone when unexpected; to surprise."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_by_surprise-en-verb-FdlOc0mz",
      "links": [
        [
          "occur",
          "occur"
        ],
        [
          "unexpected",
          "unexpected"
        ],
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "take by surprise"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken by surprise",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> by surprise"
      },
      "expansion": "take by surprise (third-person singular simple present takes by surprise, present participle taking by surprise, simple past took by surprise, past participle taken by surprise)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 March 23, Barry Neild, “Borat's version of Kazakh anthem played at Kuwait medal ceremony”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Kazakhstan's shooting team was taken by surprise when a spoof national anthem from the film Borat was used at a medal ceremony in Kuwait.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 June 12, Julian Borger, “US to suspend military exercises with South Korea, Trump says”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Both the South Korean government and US forces in the region appear to have been taken by surprise by Trump’s declared suspension of joint exercises.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 December 13, 'Industry Insider', “Delivering a robust timetable”, in RAIL, number 998, page 68:",
          "text": "No substitute bus services could be organised, and it is almost as though the train operator has been taken by surprise by the non-attendance of staff who appear to have made themselves unavailable - whether or not the diagram concerned was covered by overtime.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To occur to someone when unexpected; to surprise."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "occur",
          "occur"
        ],
        [
          "unexpected",
          "unexpected"
        ],
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "take by surprise"
}