of a sudden
116
7.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
de repente
- "Jesus Christ," said Brian Kearney, watching the crowd all of a sudden surge toward the bridge again.
And of a sudden this one girl throws a drink and she gets the mic blown.
- And of a sudden this one girl throws a drink and she gets the mic blown.
- 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.
- Like all of a sudden things are not OK.
- It's happening subconsciously, but all of a sudden your fuel is empty.
- And then all of a sudden you're on top of me.
- It's just one day they were all of a sudden responsible for this child.
- And then all of a sudden things just took off.
- That's the way they get around and all of a sudden there's no ice.
- We'll get it all together and then we'll all of a sudden everything will fall into place.
- Reese and Faye and Faye, that's her nickname that I guess I gave her all of a sudden.
Examples
-
It began to go up, and then all of a sudden we lost it.
-
Why do you wanna help them all of a sudden?
-
Things just all of a sudden become clear.
-
Like all of a sudden things are not OK.
-
Whenever we have a meeting set up, all of a sudden parents are busy.
Academic text (2008) -
A 44-year-old man presented with a complaint of a sudden loss of vision in his right eye.
Academic text (2006) -
Her shoe seemed enormous all of a sudden, a clown boot.
Fiction book (1990) -
I'm about halfway down, and all of a sudden I hear Nate's voice.
-
It just feels like you're on fire all of a sudden!
-
She was fine one minute, but then all of a sudden, she started crying.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Quickly and without warning
∞
1.0
At once without waiting
987
2.7
Very quickly and without warning
344
1.0
Immediately without delay
183
4.2
Happens suddenly without warning or effort
170
4.2
Happening suddenly without any warning
145
3.3
In a sudden way that gives no warning
95
3.4
Something happens suddenly and without warning
50
3.3
Very quickly, in almost no time
35
2.5
Very quickly in a single moment
28
4.1
Suddenly and without any warning
25
5.8
Suddenly with no clear reason, like magic
14
7.6
A single sudden action that happens all at once
13
3.0
Happening suddenly and without warning
3
3.0
It happens very quickly with little effort
1
3.5
Very quickly, in an instant
Said when something happens suddenly, as if by magic
Antonyms
How Sudden
Surface Forms
Morphology
of + a + sudden
The meaning 'all at once; suddenly' is directly signalled by the word 'sudden' and the prepositional pattern 'of a X' simply turns that concept into an adverbial phrase; a learner who knows 'sudden' will readily infer the meaning. Although the structure is somewhat fixed (as in 'all of a sudden'), the semantic contribution of the parts is transparent and parallels constructions in many languages, so a B1 learner would likely understand it.
Etymology
Of a sudden makes you imagine one quick moment when something sudden appears out of nowhere, like a calm room and then a loud noise. That's why it means 'all at once' or 'without warning'.