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

“I found myself traded here and I was like, ‘OK, all of a sudden I’m on the team with the best record in baseball right now, going for a ring just about every single year.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 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

“I said something,” she told me, describing an incident from early in her tenure at the workplace retirement, benefits and insurance provider, “and all of a sudden a 25-page deck came back.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

"I don't think he's going to do a complete 180 and all of a sudden, become a great communicator," said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

That’s when I saw why both Mama and Doc had frozen all of a sudden.

From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce

Related Words

• precipitously
• suddenly
• unexpectedly