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

You’re not sure exactly what happened, but all of a sudden you truly are gone from this world.

From Literature

“Every generation feels like all of a sudden food is becoming an enormously prominent issue like it never was before,” says the 89-year-old nutritionist and New York University professor emerita.

From The Wall Street Journal

But now, all of a sudden, it looked okay.

From Literature

“I see there is a lot of experts all of a sudden that wanted to retire me or have retired me many times the last couple of years,” he said after beating Sinner.

From The Wall Street Journal

It doesn't mean that all of a sudden they're out of my thoughts at all.

From Barron's

Related Words

• precipitously
• suddenly
• unexpectedly