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

“The death of their father was extraordinarily traumatic, as you can imagine. That was compounded by this putative heir all of a sudden showing up and demanding money,” said Joseph Lipchitz, a litigator in Boston.

From The Wall Street Journal

If you’ve ever had that experience, you’re in a room and all of a sudden the lightbulb gets really intense and then it burns out.

From Los Angeles Times

“Then all of a sudden, she would be like, ‘I can’t take this anymore,’ and she would just up and leave and wouldn’t return until the next day.

From Seattle Times

It’s been my experience personally and as a teacher that there has to be that light-bulb moment, that epiphany, where everything the coach had been saying to me all of a sudden makes sense.”

From Los Angeles Times

And all of a sudden this just happened, you know?

From Washington Post

Related Words

• precipitously
• suddenly
• unexpectedly