OF A SUDDEN

I. (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Happening unexpectedly

Example:

suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side

Synonyms:

all of a sudden; of a sudden; suddenly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

Context examples:

She travelled all the way post by herself, and knew nothing of coming till Saturday night; for General Tilney, from some odd fancy or other, all of a sudden grew tired of having her there, and almost turned her out of the house.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

They had received her doubtingly, if not coolly; and nothing beyond the merest commonplace had been talked almost all the time—till just at last, when Mrs. Martin's saying, all of a sudden, that she thought Miss Smith was grown, had brought on a more interesting subject, and a warmer manner.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The coastguard on duty at once made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic manner the coming of a sudden storm.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Several young ladies, who had taken no notice of her before, were very affectionate all of a sudden.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Far away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound like the cry of anger, then another on the back of it; and then one horrid, long-drawn scream.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You know, mama, how young and inexperienced I was, when you presented him before me, of a sudden, as a lover.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Topping the heathy down, they came of a sudden full in sight of the old sea-port—a cluster of houses, a trail of blue smoke, and a bristle of masts.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And so, there she had set, without an idea of any thing in the world, full ten minutes, perhaps—when, all of a sudden, who should come in—to be sure it was so very odd!—but they always dealt at Ford's—who should come in, but Elizabeth Martin and her brother!