suddenness
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sud·den
(sŭd′n)adj.
Idiom: 1. Happening without warning; unforeseen: a sudden storm.
2. Happening or done without delay; hasty or immediate: a sudden decision.
3. Characterized by sharp change in elevation; precipitous: a sudden drop in the ocean floor.
all of a sudden
Very quickly and unexpectedly; suddenly.
[Middle English sodain, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *subitānus, from Latin subitāneus, from subitus, from past participle of subīre, to approach stealthily : sub-, secretly; see sub- + īre, to go; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]
sud′den·ly adv.
sud′den·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Suddenness
See Also: ENTRANCES/EXITS, SHOCK, SURPRISE
- Abrupt as a sultry little thunder shower —Amy Leslie
- Abruptly as string that snaps beneath the bow —Ernest William Hornung
- Abruptly, like a summer rainstorm —Derek Lambert
- Abrupt, startling shock, like the slap of a wet towel —Norman Mailer
- All at once, like the wind dispersing storm clouds at a single puff —Lawrence Durrell
- Appear suddenly as if out of a fold of the air —Iris Murdoch
- Arbitrary as a cyclone —Anon
- Burst into the room like a bullet crashing through a window —Guy De Maupassant
See Also: BURST
- Didn’t expect it … like a storm on a very fine day —Ivan Turgenev
- He was with them as suddenly as a gift, as if an arm had thrust in a bunch of roses or a telegram —Eudora Welty
- (A reflex as) immediate as a sneeze —Leigh Allison Wilson
A common variation: “Sudden as a sneeze.”
- Steep as a broom handle —Elizabeth Spencer
- Steep as hell’s half acre —George MacDonald Fraser
- Stopped all of a sudden, as if he had been shot —William Makepeace Thackeray
- Sudden and foolish as that almost silent fart —George Garrett
See Also: FOOLISHNESS
- Sudden as a burst of hiccuping —Anon
This and the entries that follow typify the simile that develops new twists from conversation to conversation, writer to writer.
- Sudden as a dislocated joint slipping back into place —Anon
- Sudden as a massacre —Anon
- Sudden as a meteor shooting across the sky —Anon
- Sudden as an epileptic seizure —Anon
- Sudden as a stitch in your side —Anon
- Sudden as a summer shower —Anon
- Sudden as a tornado swooping down on a small town —Alistair Cooke, Public Television, March 8, 1987
The comparison referring to the suddenness of the first World War was made during an introduction to an episode in the “Lost Empire” series.
- [Call of a jaybird] sudden as conscience —Robert Penn Warren
- Sudden as the stopping of breath —Mary Lee Settle
- (The end was) sudden, like a foolish play —Karl Shapiro
- Suddenly, as a train comes out of a tunnel —Virginia Woolf
- Suddenly, like a pair of obscene words, (there appeared on the path two boys) —Truman Capote
- Sudden resolutions, like the sudden rise of the mercury in the barometer, indicate little else than the changeableness of the weather —Julius Charles Hare and Augustus William Hare
- Sudden, surprising … it is like encountering a pun in a telephone directory —Karl E. Meyer
- Too sudden … like the lightning —William Shakespeare
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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Noun | 1. | suddenness - the quality of happening with headlong haste or without warning haste, hastiness, hurriedness, hurry, precipitation - overly eager speed (and possible carelessness); "he soon regretted his haste" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
فُجائِيَّه
náhlost
uventethed
skjótleiki; skynding
náhlosť
nenadnost
anî olma
suddenness
[ˈsʌdnnɪs] N1. (= speed) → lo repentino
I do wonder at the suddenness of his decision → me sorprende lo repentino or lo súbito de su decisión
it had all happened with terrifying suddenness → todo había ocurrido con una rapidez espantosa
having started suddenly, the pain stops with equal suddenness → habiendo empezado repentinamente, el dolor cesa con la misma rapidez
I do wonder at the suddenness of his decision → me sorprende lo repentino or lo súbito de su decisión
it had all happened with terrifying suddenness → todo había ocurrido con una rapidez espantosa
having started suddenly, the pain stops with equal suddenness → habiendo empezado repentinamente, el dolor cesa con la misma rapidez
2. (= unexpectedness) → lo inesperado
the suddenness of his resignation → lo inesperado or imprevisto de su dimisión
the suddenness of his resignation → lo inesperado or imprevisto de su dimisión
3. (= abruptness) → brusquedad f
the car came to a halt with a suddenness that sent her jerking forward → el coche se paró con tal brusquedad que la lanzó hacia adelante
the car came to a halt with a suddenness that sent her jerking forward → el coche se paró con tal brusquedad que la lanzó hacia adelante
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
suddenness
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
sudden
(ˈsadn) adjective happening etc quickly and unexpectedly. a sudden attack; His decision to get married is rather sudden!; a sudden bend in the road.
ˈsuddenness nounˈsuddenly adverb
He suddenly woke up; Suddenly she realized that the stranger had a gun.
all of a sudden suddenly or unexpectedly. All of a sudden the lights went out.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.