OF A SUDDEN

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does of a sudden mean? 

• OF A SUDDEN (adverb)
  The adverb OF A SUDDEN has 1 sense:

1. happening unexpectedly

  Familiarity information: OF A SUDDEN used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OF A SUDDEN (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Happening unexpectedly

Synonyms:

all of a sudden; of a sudden; suddenly

Context example:

suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side

 Context examples 

And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It's hard enough to have you change all of a sudden.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I was still watching him, when of a sudden I saw him start, and a terrible expression come upon his face.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The child says of a sudden, “Fisherman's daughter, here's a shell!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Weeping? how that?” said the lawyer, conscious of a sudden chill of horror.

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

As he gazed, he saw of a sudden a man steal forth from the wood into the open clearing.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Suppose I were to be seized of a sudden in some dreadful way, and not able to ring the bell!

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

All of a sudden, you have five different puzzles, and you must come up with five different theories to explain them.

(The Super-Earth that Came Home for Dinner, NASA)

The seizure seen in absence epilepsy, consisting of a sudden momentary break in consciousness of thought or activity, often accompanied by automatisms or clonic movements, especially of the eyelids.

(Petit Mal Seizure, Food and Drug Administration)

The bride, who had fortunately entered the house before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and retired to her room.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)