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sudden

/ˈsʌd.ən/adjective2 syllables

Sudden means: happening without warning or in a short space of time.

Synonyms for sudden16

adjective, as in happening without warning or in a short space of time

abrupt, choppy, jerky, emergent, explosive, fulminant, sharp, fast

also used for sudden

precipitous, subitaneous, impetuous, impulsive, precipitant, precipitate, spontaneous, suddent

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Opposites of sudden

gradual

What does sudden mean?1

adjective

1

happening without warning or in a short space of time“a sudden storm”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Sudden in a sentence

  • All of a sudden, the clerk lost his temper.CK
  • All of a sudden, a fire broke out in the department store.CK
  • All of a sudden, a fire broke out in the movie theater.CK
  • All of a sudden, the door shut with a bang.CM
  • All of a sudden, the river rose and broke its banks.unknown
  • All of a sudden, we heard the sharp cry of a cat.shekitten
  • All of a sudden, the barn went up in flames.papabear
  • All of a sudden, large drops of rain began falling from the dark sky.CK

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of sudden

as a adjective

comparative
suddener
superlative
suddenest