suddenly
Britishadverb
Explanation
If you're walking on a crowded street and you stop suddenly — abruptly and without warning — somebody walking behind you may bump into you. If you experience love at first sight, you've suddenly fallen in love. If you're driving at night and a deer jumps out in front of you, you might suddenly have to swerve to avoid it. Suddenly is the kind of adverb you might use a lot if you're describing the plot of an action movie, a mystery novel, or any story in which lots of unexpected things happen.
Vocabulary lists containing suddenly
A Need for Speed: Synonyms for "Fast"
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The real danger of automating our ordinary encounters isn’t that we’ll suddenly forget what human connection feels like.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
By arriving here suddenly, Sunderland fail to track him.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
One time in Houston, a hurricane turned so suddenly toward the city that we couldn’t evacuate safely in time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Doctors also say that certain patients, usually older adults, postmenopausal women or people who have never exercised, are suddenly dealing with back or bone issues after experiencing rapid weight loss.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
And suddenly I realized that this too was a message, a last wordless communication among neighbors.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
