all of a sudden

Idioms  

1. Entirely without warning, abruptly, as in All of a sudden the lights went out. In Shakespeare's day the common phrase was of a sudden, the word all being added in the late 1600s. Also see all at once, def. 2.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

all of a sudden

For me, I was just thinking about, again, how we’ve had so many folks who were known for films now all of a sudden becoming television stars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

"We have to be careful in both ways. We don't want to restrict them where all of a sudden we come in second to China," he told reporters in the Oval Office last week.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

“And the next wave comes, the next wave comes, and all of a sudden you’re capsizing,” Elfers said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

"We have the perfect storm of a condition that was previously thought to be very rare all of a sudden becoming extremely common," she says.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

When I look over, she’s hugging her stuffed narwhal, looking all of a sudden like a deflated balloon.

From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks

Related Words

• precipitously
• suddenly
• unexpectedly