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OUT OF THE BLUE definition: 1. If something happens out of the blue, it is completely unexpected: 2. If something happens out…. Learn more.
phrase. If something happens out of the blue, it happens unexpectedly. One of them wrote to us out of the blue several years later. See full dictionary entry for blue. Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers. out of the blue in British English. apparently from nowhere; unexpectedly.
Jul 21, 2023 · "Out of the blue" denotes a sudden, unexpected event, occurrence, or statement that takes one by surprise. It could refer to anything from an unexpected phone call to an unforeseen event or decision. You can use "out of the blue" in both positive and negative situations.
suddenly and unexpectedly: She had no idea that anything was wrong until he announced out of the blue that he wanted a divorce.
Meaning. Suddenly and unexpectedly. Examples. We were sunbathing and then it just started to hail. It was literally out of the blue. Where did it originate? Britain, 19th century (as ‘a bolt from the blue’). Where is it used? Worldwide. Hear the idiom spoken. More idioms about. Surprise. Luck. How the idiom originated.
See examples of OUT OF THE BLUE used in a sentence.
Use the phrase out of the blue when you need a casual way to describe something that surprises you and possibly seems to come from nowhere. Your parents might announce, out of the blue, that they're moving to Mexico, for example. Another way to say out of the blue is from the clear blue sky.
physics : one of the three colors (see color entry 1 sense 15) that quarks have in the theory of quantum chromodynamics. One cannot have a single quark on its own because it would have a color (red, green, or blue ).
Out of the blue is an English idiom meaning “suddenly and unexpectedly”. You can use it when you are surprised by something that was not expected to happen. For example, I haven’t seen her since childhood. Then, completely out of the blue, I received a letter from her.
The expression out of the blue is an abbreviation of the older, longer idiom a bolt out of the blue, referring to the unlikelihood of lightning striking from a clear sky. Today, the phrase is used to express sudden surprise or to explain that something has occurred without warning.
