Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Happening without warning; unforeseen.
- adjective Happening or done without delay; hasty or immediate.
- adjective Characterized by sharp change in elevation; precipitous.
- idiom (all of a sudden) Very quickly and unexpectedly; suddenly.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Suddenly; unexpectedly.
- Happening without notice, instantly and unexpectedly; immediate; instant.
- Found or hit upon unexpectedly.
- Hastily made, put in use, employed, prepared, etc.; quick; rapid.
- Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate; passionate.
- In zoology, abrupt; sharply defined from neighboring parts: as, a sudden antennal club; a sudden truncation.
- noun That which is sudden; a surprise; an unexpected occurrence.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb rare Suddenly; unexpectedly.
- adjective Happening without previous notice or with very brief notice; coming unexpectedly, or without the common preparation; immediate; instant; speedy.
- adjective Hastly prepared or employed; quick; rapid.
- adjective obsolete Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate.
- noun An unexpected occurrence; a surprise.
- noun sooner than was expected; without the usual preparation; suddenly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Happening
quickly and with little or nowarning ,snell . - adverb poetic
Suddenly . - noun obsolete An unexpected occurrence; a surprise.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective happening without warning or in a short space of time
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But the term sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, wasn't coined until the 1960s when it was declared a medical disorder.
WN.com - Articles related to Preventing Tobacco Addiction Among Our Women 2010
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The term sudden infant death syndrome (Sids) was introduced in 1969 as a recognised category of natural death that carried no implication of blame for bereaved parents.
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The term sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) was introduced in 1969 as a recognised category of natural death that carried no implication of blame for bereaved parents.
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Why all the sudden is a public health option which would compete with private insurers be such a bad thing? gl, Pittsburgh
Conrad: Dems lack votes to pass health care reform on their own 2009
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"Why all of a sudden is there a great big rush?" asked Eve Zindorf, a member of the Karington Advisory Board, which is supposed to be alerted when the developer wants to make substantial changes to the project.
Some Prince George's residents view townhouse bill with suspicion Ovetta Wiggins 2010
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Why all of the sudden is there a fanboy following for Ryan Gosling?
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"Why all of a sudden is there a great big rush?" asked Eve Zindorf, a member of the Karington Advisory Board, which is supposed to be alerted when the developer wants to make substantial changes to the project.
Some Prince George's residents view townhouse bill with suspicion Ovetta Wiggins 2010
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There is the clean sweep of the sudden revelation; there is the conspicuous use of the word "sudden"; there is the replacement of youthful optimism with middle-aged alienation.
Borne Ceaselessly Into the Future Kerry Howley 2011
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Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman have written an excellent book on what they call sudden personality change, or "snapping."
Valerie Tarico: Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science: Part 4 of 6 2009
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This time Mr. Bush spoke of what he called a sudden thaw after decades of political stagnation in the Middle East, citing recent elections in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories and promising support for reformers elsewhere.
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