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sudden.

Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈsʌd.ən/[ˈsʌd.n̩]

  1. Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly.

    The sudden drop in temperature left everyone cold and confused.

  2. Hastily prepared or employed; quick; rapid.

    obsolete

  3. Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English sodeyn, sodain, from Anglo-Norman sodein, from Old French sodain, subdain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subitānus (“sudden”), from Latin subitāneus (“sudden”), from subitus (“sudden", literally, "that which has come stealthily”), originally the past participle of subīre (“to come or go stealthily”), from sub (“under”) + īre (“go”). Doublet of subitaneous. Displaced native Old English fǣrlīċ.

adv/ˈsʌd.ən/[ˈsʌd.n̩]

  1. Suddenly.

    poetic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English sodeyn, sodain, from Anglo-Norman sodein, from Old French sodain, subdain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subitānus (“sudden”), from Latin subitāneus (“sudden”), from subitus (“sudden", literally, "that which has come stealthily”), originally the past participle of subīre (“to come or go stealthily”), from sub (“under”) + īre (“go”). Doublet of subitaneous. Displaced native Old English fǣrlīċ.

noun/ˈsʌd.ən/[ˈsʌd.n̩]

  1. An unexpected occurrence; a surprise.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English sodeyn, sodain, from Anglo-Norman sodein, from Old French sodain, subdain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subitānus (“sudden”), from Latin subitāneus (“sudden”), from subitus (“sudden", literally, "that which has come stealthily”), originally the past participle of subīre (“to come or go stealthily”), from sub (“under”) + īre (“go”). Doublet of subitaneous. Displaced native Old English fǣrlīċ.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.