sudden death
noun
Simple meaning
Instantaneous, unexpected death not caused by violence or trauma.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
suhduhndehthSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsʌdənˈdɛθ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countable
Instantaneous, unexpected death not caused by violence or trauma.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sudden, death.
sportsgames
A period or mode of play in which the next player or team to score wins instantly; often in an extra period of time following a tie at the end of the regular period of play.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Instantaneous, unexpected death not caused by violence or trauma.
Used this way, sudden death is a reasonably familiar word carrying real weight of difficulty or hurt. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Strongly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Sudden death is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.