Synonyms

blindsided

American

[blahynd-sahy-did] / ˈblaɪndˌsaɪ dɪd /

adjective

Sports. tackled, hit, or attacked by an opponent on the blind side, out of the player’s field of vision.

The blindsided offensive lineman was taken down by the defensive tackle coming around the other way.
attacked critically or taken by surprise where one is vulnerable, uninformed or unprepared, etc..

Told by a cryptic university official that his keynote address was being canceled “for political reasons,” the blindsided philanthropist was left searching for answers.
(of such an attack, tackle, etc.) delivered from the blind side, unexpectedly, or in a way that exposes or takes advantage of a vulnerability.

A staff meeting is no place for a blindsided assault on an administrator.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of blindside.

Etymology

Origin of blindsided

First recorded in 1985–90; blindside + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; blindside + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

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.

Still, new technologies have blindsided these firms before.

From The Wall Street Journal

That gap is why many couples feel blindsided.

From MarketWatch

But when he started mentioning it to other people, he realized they were about to be totally blindsided by an event of epic proportions.

From The Wall Street Journal

But just six months later she was blindsided when her husband announced "seemingly out of nowhere" that he wanted a divorce.

From BBC

This way, you can budget accordingly over the next couple of months and not feel blindsided if you end up needing to pay a bit more.

From MarketWatch

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