Idiom
bolt from the blue
Meaning
A complete surprise; something totally unexpected.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The news of his sudden resignation was a bolt from the blue.”
“The company closing its doors without any warning came as a total bolt from the blue for all the employees.”
“Her unexpected decision to move across the country arrived like a bolt from the blue, leaving her family in a state of complete shock.”
Examples
simple
“The news of his sudden resignation was a bolt from the blue.”
contextual
“The company closing its doors without any warning came as a total bolt from the blue for all the employees.”
complex
“Her unexpected decision to move across the country arrived like a bolt from the blue, leaving her family in a state of complete shock.”
Origin
A lightning bolt from a clear blue sky; popularised by Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution (1837).
Key words
Related idioms
- Level
- B1 · Intermediate
- Updated