one fell swoop
14
7.6
- idiom
- She lost her job and her apartment in one fell swoop, leaving her feeling overwhelmed.
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Watch on YouTubeI got all the pants shopping done in one fell swoop.
- I got all the pants shopping done in one fell swoop.
- I broke my pelvis, fractured my skull, and broke my thumb all in one fell swoop.
- Marriott in one fell swoop just set the death stage, rang the death knell for Airbnb.
- It just had to make a single, you know, fly past it and gather as much data as it could in one fell swoop.
- And so that means we can deal with all of the interactions among the non degenerate levels in one fell swoop.
- Here you go, here's your listing contract and your license contracting proposal so I can sell your house and fix it up all in one fell swoop.
- We can't solve this problem with one fell swoop.
Examples
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You can choose to install them in one fell swoop or one at a time.
Blog text (11) -
With the repeal of this act, the people are deprived, at one fell swoop, of any voice in their local affairs.
Academic text (2017) -
We'll round them all up with one fell swoop.
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We have seen the whole thing fall down in one fell swoop.
Blog text (13) -
There was a way to solve all three problems in one fell swoop.
Blog text (21) -
I could take care of both those bucket list items in one fell swoop.
Blog text (21) -
So in one fell swoop, you address all these environmental issues just by stopping subsidizing animal agriculture.
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In one fell swoop with emancipation, millions of former slaves were now citizens.
Academic text (2017) -
In one fell swoop, with one grand gesture, he has changed the course of American history and dramatically jeopardized the fate of the South that he loved so dearly.
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Many of these strategies save money, help alleviate poverty, and create healthier environments—all in one fell swoop.
Academic text (2005)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Quickly and without warning
987
2.7
Very quickly and without warning
344
1.0
Immediately without delay
116
7.1
Happens quickly and without warning
50
3.3
Very quickly, in almost no time
35
2.5
Very quickly in a single moment
13
3.0
Happening suddenly and without warning
4
3.4
All at once without stopping
3
3.0
It happens very quickly with little effort
1
3.5
Very quickly, in an instant
1
4.7
All done at the same time with one action
Happens very quickly
Antonyms
How Simultaneous
Surface Forms
Morphology
While 'one' (single) combined with 'swoop' (a sudden movement or strike) can hint at a single sudden action, the key word 'fell' here is an archaic adjective meaning 'fierce' or 'deadly' and is unlikely to be known by a B1 learner (the input even shows it as not found). Because the idiomatic sense 'all at once' is partly inferable from 'one' + 'swoop' but depends on a rare/archaic modifier and a metaphorical extension, the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
One fell swoop comes from an old image of a fierce bird making a single sudden swoop, and fell once meant 'deadly'. So, the phrase now means 'all at once'.