How to Use off guard in a Sentence

off guard

phrase
  • That’s why the fact that what was said was said catches me so off guard.
    — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 8 July 2026
  • Milton's kicker appeared to be caught off guard, and the play fell apart on a turnover on downs.
    — Jack Leo, AJC.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • But the dentist always catches me off guard, like a snake in the basement.
    — Zach Przystup, Baltimore Sun, 13 Aug. 2026
  • The backlash over the pause on traffic stops caught some in the White House off guard.
    — Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, 15 July 2026
  • As access to restrooms during the outage was blocked, some guests said they were caught off guard.
    — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 29 July 2026
  • The pace of SpaceX’s spending caught some analysts off guard.
    — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Others apply breed restrictions that can catch owners off guard.
    — Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The safest approach is to put protections in place before an urgent call, text or email catches you off guard.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 17 July 2026
  • Borrow without understanding the basics, though, and the true costs can catch you off guard.
    — Sharon Wu, USA Today, 7 Aug. 2026
  • On that note, when Mercury squares Uranus, unexpected facts or news could catch us off guard.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Residents said they were caught off guard a year ago and didn’t receive any warning when floods overtopped the Guadalupe.
    — Jesse Bedayn, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2026
  • They were perhaps caught off guard that France fielded the majority of their stars in that meeting.
    — Tim Spiers, New York Times, 30 June 2026
  • The spot had a loyal luxury-shopping crowd, and the closing caught regulars off guard.
    — Connie Ogle, Miami Herald, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Unlike some of her predecessors, Leavitt was rarely caught off guard in public.
    — Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Within days, nearly every artist dropped out, with some claiming they were caught off guard by the partisan nature of the event.
    — Philip Wang, Time, 29 June 2026
  • Caleb Kilian appeared caught off guard by the decision, dropping to the ground as Susac made the throw.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 21 July 2026
  • Nixon was caught off guard on his first day at Lambeau Field when Love wanted to create a handshake with him.
    — Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The move caught lawmakers in both parties off guard and delayed enactment of the legislation.
    — Sarah Agostino,mike Winters, CNBC, 11 July 2026
  • Webb appreciated the gesture, but the brief celebration caught him off guard.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Trying to catch Cape Verde off guard, Messi curled a left-footed shot toward the upper right corner of the net.
    — Tim Rohan, NBC news, 4 July 2026
  • Though Krukow’s departure will be hard for Giants fans to digest, his partner in the booth wasn’t caught off guard by the decision.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Dedicate one for the car or tuck one in the undercarriage of your stroller and you’ll never be caught off guard by an unexpectedly chilly morning.
    — Vy Yang, Architectural Digest, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Almost as quickly, online retail demand surged, and consumer behavior flipped in ways that caught Llerandi off guard.
    — Paula De La Cruz, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • This month’s announcement from CMS caught states off guard with a new definition of medical frailty.
    — ABC News, 29 June 2026
  • But this time, the Players entered the palace fully aware of the format’s twists and traps, armed with strategies, stronger instincts, and a ruthlessness that caught me off guard.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Arora expected the host galaxies to impart some irregularities on the streams, but the sheer number caught him off guard.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Miller often called well into the evening, Dudek said, to chastise him about anything the press had reported that day that had caught the administration off guard.
    — Eli Hager, ProPublica, 8 Sep. 2025
  • The storm caught the state off guard, having made a sudden shift to the east and smack into the core of the state after most forecasters had projected it to make landfall much farther to the north.
    — Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 Aug. 2026
  • The scale of the devastation difficult to grasp after that wall of water caught everyone off guard, crashing into entire villages.
    — ABC News, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Weather shifts quickly at elevation, cell service is spotty in remote areas, and desert and alpine environments carry risks that catch first-timers off guard.
    — Ashley Lynch, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'off guard.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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