sudden

Etymology

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.

adj

1. Happening quickly and with little or no warning.
   The sudden drop in temperature left everyone cold and confused.
   From lightninges and tempeſtes, from plage, peſtilence, and famine, from battayle and murther, and from ſodayn death. / Good lord deliver us. 1552, The Boke of Common Prayer [etc.], The Letanie
   I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. (obsolete) Hastily prepared or employed; quick; rapid.
   Never was such a sudden scholar made. c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, act 1, scene 1
   Thus these pious flourishes and colours, examined thoroughly, are like the apples of Asphaltis, appearing goodly to the sudden eye; but look well upon them, or at least but touch them, and they turn into cinders. 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes
3. (obsolete) Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate.
   I have no joy of this contract to-night: / It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 2

adv

1. (poetic) Suddenly.

noun

1. (obsolete) An unexpected occurrence; a surprise.