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.

---

Example Sentences

“You think that you have it. Then all of a sudden, it’s like somebody pulls a rug out and says, ‘No, we’re changing it,’ and now it’s going to be this way now.

From Los Angeles Times

In Huerta’s case, critics just don’t buy how someone who carried Chávez’s torch decades after his death could all of a sudden supposedly turn on him.

From Los Angeles Times

“Middle Americans, all of a sudden, they are going to start learning more about peptides,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

“You know, all of a sudden some 19-year-old with a Russian accent is showing interest in them, and they think they’re Brad Pitt.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Then all of a sudden I’d have been willing to swap this world for a better one because of the voice from behind me.

From Literature

Related Words

• precipitously
• suddenly
• unexpectedly