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Sudden vs Instantly - What's the difference?

sudden | instantly |

As adverbs the difference between sudden and instantly

is that sudden is (poetic) suddenly while instantly is (archaic) urgently; with insistence.

As an adjective sudden

is happening quickly and with little or no warning.

As a noun sudden

is (obsolete) an unexpected occurrence; a surprise.

sudden

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Happening quickly and with little or no warning.
  • *, chapter=1
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=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.}}
  • (obsolete) Hastily prepared or employed; quick; rapid.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Never was such a sudden scholar made.
  • * Milton
    • the apples of Asphaltis, appearing goodly to the sudden eye
  • (obsolete) Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I have no joy of this contract to-night: It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden

    Antonyms

    * gradual * unsudden

    Derived terms

    * all of a sudden * sudden death * suddenly * suddenness * suddenwoven

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (poetic) Suddenly.
  • * Milton
    • Herbs of every leaf that sudden flowered.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An unexpected occurrence; a surprise.

    • Derived terms

    * all of a sudden * all of the sudden * of a sudden

    Statistics

    *

    External links

    * * * English adjectives ending in -en 1000 English basic words

    instantly

    English

    Alternative forms

    * enstantly (rare) * instantlie (obsolete) * instauntly (obsolete)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (archaic) Urgently; with insistence.
  • *, II.27:
    • Theoxena although she were instantly urged thereunto, could never be induced to marry againe.
  • At once; without delay.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson, work=Telegraph
    • , title= England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report , passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott. }}