✨📕 The NEWThe NEW Collegiate Dictionary, 12th Edition Over 5,000 words added — Buy Now! Collegiate DictionaryBuy Now!
play illustration of a man watching a washing machine overflow
Commonly Confused

'All over sudden' vs. 'All of a sudden'

We'll help you figure it out at once


Is the correct phrase 'all over sudden' or 'all of a sudden'? Senior Editor Emily Brewster explains.

Transcript

Sometimes a word that sounds like the right word and feels like the right word isn't actually the right word. It's an eggcorn. Something that happens sooner than expected doesn't happen "all over sudden," it happens "all of a sudden." Sudden here is an obsolete noun meaning an unexpected occurrence.

Up next

play video schwa
The Schwa

 

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

play video his or her
Is singular 'they' a better choice?

 

The awkward case of 'his or her'

play videos pictures in the dictionary
Pictures in the Dictionary

 

The story of those iconic illustrations.

play hot mess
Hot Mess

 

Our research turned up two archaic literal meanings

play backward index mystery
The True Story of the Backward Index

 

These people needed a computer

play video title words of the year 1066
Words of the Year: 1066

 

English was never the same after the Norman Conquest