Flat-footed

The thing made a big stir in the town, too, and a good many come out flat-footed and said it was scandalous to separate the mother and the children that way.

Two Saudi battalions and a Qatari armored battalion were tasked with retaking the town, which they did in a slow and flat-footed fashion, supported by ample U.S. artillery and air power.

I have many top ranked sectional and national level kids come to my program and I cannot even believe how flatfooted they are—not because they lack the talent—simply because no coach ever demanded the extra footwork effort from them.

I can't experience your experiences. What special relation to two experiences in my head have that an experience in my head lacks with respect to an experience in yours? One flat-footed answer is that they are both mine.

"The Death of Expertise" [by Tom Nichols, 2017] turns out to be an unexceptional book about an important subject. […] [I]t's more of a flat-footed compendium than an original work, pulling together examples from recent news stories while iterating arguments explored in more depth in books like Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason," Susan Jacoby's "The Age of American Unreason," Robert Hughes's "Culture of Complaint" and, of course, Richard Hofstadter's 1963 classic, "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life."

[…] [Ian] McEwan's narrator, […] explicitly sets out his world, overexplains the historical context and never turns down a chance to offer an essayistic digression. To my taste, this is a flat-footed way of doing sci-fi.

They were caught flat-footed when Clancy filed to enter the race.

To those who are younger, perhaps still building a career, I say to you, plan for it! No one should be caught flatfooted by the lengthening of middle age.

Caught mentally flatfooted, Anne couldn't think of a response. She was guilty as charged. She didn't deserve to defend herself.

Eleven minutes later, United doubled their lead as City defender Rico Lewis was caught flat-footed, allowing Dorgu to nip in front of him and turn home Matheus Cunha's cut-back.

Now, you need'nt talk 'bout your shoes, kase you see I'm barefooted, I haint got no shoes, tis true, but I stand flat-footed and damn the man who can move me one inch—do you hear that Wolfe!

All these remarks are in strict confidence, and I write in this way to urge you [Charles Follen McKim] to be explicit and flat-footed in your wishes.

Proficient drinkers could spill out an ounce, or an ounce and a half, or two, from the neck of a Solo Soda bottle in the dark, measured to the very dram, refill it with corn whisky, turn it upside down with the thumb placed carefully over the bottle's lip—for a good mix, and luck—and drink it down, flatfooted.