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.
Warsh’s suggestion that the Fed might have more “work to do” to fight inflation suddenly put a September interest-rate increase in play.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
It is understood that Geoff suffered a heart attack after the plane suddenly dropped at high altitude.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
"Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us," Muthunathan, 46, told AFP, showing a video she recorded on her phone of a torrent surging towards her.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
“You’re creating this perverse incentive that suddenly impacts all agents, because that’s the system that they work with because they’re reliant on a commission.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Gingersnipes reached toward the young, dying fungi, as if to apologize, then suddenly pulled away.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
