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

Now all of a sudden, you have Shimza, Keinemusik or Francis Mercier playing the records in front of 30,000 to 50,000 people.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

"I was traveling home by train," recalls Passaleva, "and all of a sudden I was rushing against time to commandeer one of the largest telescopes in the world from my laptop."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

"Things that were in supermarkets and seen as relatively abundant may all of a sudden be in shortage," he adds.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

"To understand one day that you think you're important to somebody, and then all of a sudden you're not. They discard you like a piece of garbage."

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

“You are not engaged, I hope?” and Laurie looked very elder-brotherly and grave all of a sudden.

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

Related Words

• precipitously
• suddenly
• unexpectedly