all of a sudden
737
2.7
- idiom
- Informal
- I was studying when, all of a sudden, the lights went out.
- then all of a sudden
- all of a sudden, I realized
- all of a sudden, I felt
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Watch on YouTubeThings just all of a sudden become clear.
- Things just all of a sudden become clear.
- Why did Lenin all of a sudden fall?
- And then all of a sudden, bullets start flying.
- Because once you do the first, all of a sudden it'll work.
- It's happening subconsciously, but all of a sudden your fuel is empty.
- It's just one day they were all of a sudden responsible for this child.
- And then all of a sudden you're on top of me.
- Like all of a sudden things are not OK.
- That's the way they get around and all of a sudden there's no ice.
- Well, they couldn't explain was why all of a sudden it was that much brighter.
- And there's no magic threshold where all of a sudden it's officially true.
- What would our friends, our neighbors say if all of a sudden we were different?
- But by day three, all of a sudden we see conscious competence.
- Like it just felt like all of a sudden everything was moving slow.
- Like all of a sudden, like these people are evil.
Examples
-
When students are asked to solve real-life issues, all of a sudden they have a 'need to know.'
Academic text (2007) -
What makes you say that all of a sudden?
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Things just all of a sudden become clear.
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It's just one day they were all of a sudden responsible for this child.
-
But when a person has both, then all of a sudden things begin to change.
-
Like all of a sudden things are not OK.
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And you all of a sudden see it all.
-
What did I do to get so lucky all of a sudden?
Academic text (2009) -
All of a sudden I feel very hungry.
-
"Grandfather, I feel ill all of a sudden." "You are not permitted to feel ill," he said.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Quickly and without warning
743
7.1
Happens quickly and without warning
199
4.2
Happens suddenly without warning or effort
194
4.2
Happening suddenly without any warning
111
3.4
Something happens suddenly and without warning
108
3.3
In a sudden way that gives no warning
91
2.3
Happening without any warning
33
4.1
Suddenly and without any warning
32
2.5
Very quickly in a single moment
28
5.8
Suddenly with no clear reason, like magic
25
3.0
Happening suddenly and without warning
24
3.3
Very quickly, in almost no time
14
7.6
A single sudden action that happens all at once
8
7.2
Happens suddenly without you expecting it
1
3.5
Very quickly, in an instant
1
7.8
In a sudden, rough way that shocks or surprises
Antonyms
How Sudden
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core meaning 'unexpectedly/suddenly' is directly signaled by the adjective 'sudden', while 'all of a' functions as an intensifying quantifier, so a learner who knows the constituents can compose the adverbial sense. This is a common, compositional English pattern (equivalent to simple adverbs like 'suddenly') and is cross-linguistically transparent, making it accessible to B1 learners.
Etymology
The phrase all of a sudden puts together all, meaning 'everything', and sudden, meaning 'quick', creating the picture of everything happening at once. That's why it means 'very quickly and without warning'.