out of nowhere

out of nowhere

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

out of nowhere

1. (idiomatic) In an unexpected or inexplicable manner of arrival or occurrence.
   • 1906, Jack London, "Brown Wolf":

     It had been no easy matter when he first drifted in mysteriously out of nowhere to their little mountain cottage.

   • 1916, P. G. Wodehouse, Uneasy Money, ch. 12:

     Mr Pickering's 'Hi!' came out of nowhere and hit him like a torpedo.

   • 2015 May 25, Daniel Taylor, “Norwich reach Premier League after early blitz sees off Middlesbrough”, in The Guardian (London)‎:

     The opening goal came out of nowhere and, buoyed, it was a lovely sequence of crisp passes that culminated in Steven Whittaker playing in Nathan Redmond to double the lead.

Translations

unexpectedly or unexplicably

Dutch: uit het niets, als een donderslag bij heldere hemel Finnish: kuin tyhjästä, puun takaa, puskista French: de nulle part (fr) German: aus heiterem Himmel Hungarian: a semmiből Italian: dal nulla, come un fulmine a ciel sereno, all'improvviso (it), inaspettatamente (it) Norwegian: ingensteds fra Old English: nāhwanon Portuguese: do nada (pt), da cartola Russian: отку́да ни возьми́сь (ru) (otkúda ni vozʹmísʹ) Spanish: de la nada