Meanings
adverbsuddenly (comparative more suddenly, superlative most suddenly)
comparative more suddenly · superlative most suddenly · alternative obsolete sodeinly
- Happening quickly and with little or no warning; in a sudden manner.
They've suddenly decided to sell the house.
4 more examples
Suddenly, the heavens opened and we all got drenched.
The king before he would take his voyage, sent the Erle of Huntyngdon to ſerche and ſcowre the Seas, leaſt any Frenchmen lyeng in wayte for him might attrap him sodeinly, or he had any knowledge of their ſetting forward.
1569, Richard Grafton, “Henrye the Fift”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 464Shannon Spann had an infant, Jake, to care for and two stepdaughters to suddenly raise by herself.
2013 September 8, Wayne Darsh, “A child of war, with a sense of purpose”, in CNN, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2025But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport), archived from the original on 21 Oct 2014Synonyms: all of a sudden · Antonyms: unsuddenly
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbHappening quickly and with little or no warning; in a sudden manner.
Similar
Opposite
More synonyms by meaning
adverbquickly and without warning
Similar
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishsodenly
- Englishsuddenly
Inherited from Middle English sodenly, sodeynly, sodeinliche, sodaynlyche; equivalent to sudden + -ly.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans skielik
- skielikhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Ancient Greek ἄφνω
- ἄφνω (áphnō)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Arabic فَجْأَةً
- فَجْأَةً (fajʔatan)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Bengali হঠাৎ
- হঠাৎ (hoṭhat)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Bulgarian внеза́пно, ненаде́йно
- внеза́пно (vnezápno)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- ненаде́йно (nenadéjno)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Catalan de sobte, sobtadament
- de sobtehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- sobtadamenthappening quickly and with little or no warning
- tot d'unahappening quickly and with little or no warning
- de cop i voltahappening quickly and with little or no warning
Chinese Cantonese 一吓, 突然
- 一吓 (jat¹ haa⁵)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- 突然 (dat⁶ jin⁴)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- 突然間 /突然间 (dat⁶ jin⁴ gaan¹)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Chinese Mandarin 突然
- 突然 (tūrán)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Czech náhle, najednou
- náhlehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- najednouhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Danish pludseligt
- pludseligthappening quickly and with little or no warning
Dutch plotseling, plots
- plotselinghappening quickly and with little or no warning
- plotshappening quickly and with little or no warning
- plotsklapshappening quickly and with little or no warning
- ineenshappening quickly and with little or no warning
- pardoeshappening quickly and with little or no warning
Esperanto subite
- subitehappening quickly and with little or no warning
Estonian äkki
- äkkihappening quickly and with little or no warning
Finnish yhtäkkiä, äkkiä
- yhtäkkiähappening quickly and with little or no warning
- äkkiähappening quickly and with little or no warning
French soudainement, tout d'un coup
- soudainementhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- tout d'un couphappening quickly and with little or no warning
German plötzlich, urplötzlich (emph.)
- plötzlichhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- urplötzlich (emph.)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- unversehenshappening quickly and with little or no warning
Greek ξαφνικά
- ξαφνικά (xafniká)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Hawaiian ʻemo ʻole, hikiwawe
- ʻemo ʻolehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- hikiwawehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- honuahappening quickly and with little or no warning
- ponihappening quickly and with little or no warning
- aia hoʻihappening quickly and with little or no warning
Hebrew פתאום
- פתאום (pit'óm)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Hindi अचानक, एकाएक
- अचानक (acānak)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- एकाएक (ekāek)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- सहसा (sahsā)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- अनायास (anāyās)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Hungarian hirtelen, egyszer csak
- hirtelenhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- egyszer csakhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Icelandic brátt, skyndilega
- brátthappening quickly and with little or no warning
- skyndilegahappening quickly and with little or no warning
- snögglegahappening quickly and with little or no warning
- hastarlegahappening quickly and with little or no warning
Indonesian tiba-tiba, mendadak
- tiba-tibahappening quickly and with little or no warning
- mendadakhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Irish go tobann, de gheit
- go tobannhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- de gheithappening quickly and with little or no warning
Italian all'improvviso, improvvisamente
- all'improvvisohappening quickly and with little or no warning
- improvvisamentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
Japanese 突然
- 突然 (totsuzen)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Korean 갑자기, 돌연
- 갑자기 (gapjagi)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- 돌연 (doryeon)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Latin repente, subito
- repentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- subitohappening quickly and with little or no warning
- derepentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
Latvian pēkšņi
- pēkšņihappening quickly and with little or no warning
Lithuanian staiga
- staigahappening quickly and with little or no warning
Malay tiba-tiba
- tiba-tibahappening quickly and with little or no warning
Māori whakarere
- whakarerehappening quickly and with little or no warning
Norwegian Bokmål plutselig, med ett
- plutselighappening quickly and with little or no warning
- med etthappening quickly and with little or no warning
Persian ناگهان
- ناگهان (nâgahân)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Polish nagle, raptem
- naglehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- raptemhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- z nagłahappening quickly and with little or no warning
- znienackahappening quickly and with little or no warning
Portuguese de repente, repentinamente
- de repentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- repentinamentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- subitamentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
Romanian subit, brusc
- subithappening quickly and with little or no warning
- bruschappening quickly and with little or no warning
- deodatăhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- instantaneuhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Russian вдруг, неожи́данно
- вдруг (vdrug)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- неожи́данно (neožídanno)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- внеза́пно (vnezápno)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- скоропостижно (skoropostižno)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Scottish Gaelic gu h-obann, gu grad
- gu h-obannhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- gu gradhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Slovak zrazu
- zrazuhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Spanish repentinamente, súbitamente
- repentinamentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- súbitamentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- subitáneamentehappening quickly and with little or no warning
Swahili ghafula
- ghafulahappening quickly and with little or no warning
Swedish plötsligt, med ens
- plötsligthappening quickly and with little or no warning
- med enshappening quickly and with little or no warning
- plötsligenhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- rätt som det varhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- tvär-happening quickly and with little or no warning
Tamil திடீரென்று
- திடீரென்று (tiṭīreṉṟu)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Thai อยู่ดีๆ, อยู่ๆ
- อยู่ดีๆhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- อยู่ๆhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- จู่ๆhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Turkish aniden, ansızın
- anidenhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- ansızınhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- birdenhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- birdenbirehappening quickly and with little or no warning
- gafletenhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Ukrainian раптово, несподівано
- раптово (raptovo)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- несподівано (nespodivano)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- знена́цька (znenácʹka)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Urdu اَچانَک, ناگَہاں
- اَچانَک (acānak)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- ناگَہاں (nāgahā̃)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Vietnamese thình lình, đột ngột
- thình lìnhhappening quickly and with little or no warning
- đột ngộthappening quickly and with little or no warning
- bỗnghappening quickly and with little or no warning
- chợthappening quickly and with little or no warning
Welsh yn sydyn
- yn sydynhappening quickly and with little or no warning
Yiddish אויףֿ, מיט אַ מאָל
- אויףֿ (oyf)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- מיט אַ מאָל (mit a mol)happening quickly and with little or no warning
- פּלוצלינג (plutsling)happening quickly and with little or no warning
Cite this entry
APA
suddenly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suddenly
MLA
“suddenly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suddenly. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “suddenly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suddenly.
Source: suddenly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.