From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtake somebody/something by surprisetake somebody/something by surprisePMATTACKto suddenly attack a place or an opponent when they are not ready The guerrillas were killed when army troops took them by surprise. → surprise
Examples from the Corpus
take somebody/something by surprise• Inspector Montgomery's sudden termination of the interview had taken her by surprise initially, but now she understood his strategy.• Such cheery jobless numbers have taken everybody by surprise.• He rolled towards Lily, taking her by surprise.• Midlife never took me by surprise.• But still Hsu Fu was not satisfied or took us by surprise.• But the vehemence and anger of this response take her by surprise.• The thought that had been waiting to be revealed, waiting to take him by surprise.• His deep voice took Romanov by surprise. 