bolt from the blue
3
6.5
- idiom
- Informal
- The news of the sudden resignation was a real bolt from the blue for everyone in the office.
Examples
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Love is a bolt from the blue, isn't it?
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We are accustomed to thinking that Pope John XXIII's announcement of his intention to convoke a Council, in the course of an address to some cardinals on 25 January 1959, just three months after his election, came like a 'bolt from the blue'.
Blog text (32) -
I must say, this is a bolt from the blue for me.
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And it was like a bolt from the blue
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Love's a bolt from the blue.
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Like a bolt from the blue it came.
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His call was like a bolt from the blue, as I had a deal coming up and was short by...
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It was a bolt from the blue.
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It came like a bolt from the blue.
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Reed explained: "The Balfour Declaration ... struck these people like a bolt from the blue.
Academic text (1990)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
An event that happens suddenly and is not expected
72
2.1
A sudden violent hit that moves something strongly
53
3.8
A sudden hard movement that shocks or surprises you
36
5.3
An event or piece of news that surprises people very much
5
6.3
A sudden change in life or work that feels unpleasant and hard to handle
4
5.1
A sudden unexpected event that causes great shock
1
6.5
A sudden shocking event or announcement that surprises many people
1
5.1
A sudden event that shocks or disappoints someone
Antonyms
How Unexpected
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase evokes the image of a 'bolt' (like lightning) coming out of a clear 'blue' sky, so the notion of something sudden and unexpected is inferable from the constituents. However, the specific idiomatic collocation 'bolt from the blue' and its conventional use for an unexpected event make it partly conventionalized and not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
The expression `bolt from the blue` may come from the image of a bright bolt of lightning suddenly coming from a clear blue sky where no storm was expected. That's why it means 'a sudden and unexpected event'.