Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use unexpectedly in a sentence

40 example sentences · adverb

Unexpectedly means in an unexpected manner. Example: “Problems can arise unexpectedly, but we need to be prepared for them.”

Examples of unexpectedly by meaning

adverbIn an unexpected manner.

  • Other evidence of former ownerships such as notice-boards, number plates, and makers' plates, are often discovered unexpectedly.1952 February, H. C. Casserley, “Permanent Wayfarings”, in Railway Magazine, page 77
  • The maw-worm could emerge unexpectedly from any orifice, including, most alarmingly, the corner of people's eyes.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000...
  • Texas House Democrats’ historic quorum break unexpectedly ended Thursday evening when at least three new Democrats returned to the floor, paving the way for state Republicans to pass restrictive voting legislation.2021 August 19, Dianne Gallagher, “Texas Democrats’ effort to freeze voting bill ends”, in CNN

More sentences with unexpectedly

  • Problems can arise unexpectedly, but we need to be prepared for them.From the entry arise
  • I keep my knives sharp so that they don't slip unexpectedly while carving.From the entry sharp
  • Hospice provides end-of-life care for a period usually lasting a few days or a few weeks; occasionally patients recover unexpectedly.From the entry end-of-life
  • I used to be very poor, but my uncle died and I unexpectedly came into some property in London.From the entry come into
  • If corrupted data is fed into the flight-control system, the aircraft's elevators could move unexpectedly.2025 December 6, “What is the Airbus ‘Icarus Bug’ and how are airlines fixing it? It involves a rare failure in a flight-control computer…. From the entry SEU
  • More unexpectedly, older tech and hardware stocks seem in decent nick, Mr Ives notes.2022 May 14, “Tech bubbles are bursting all over the place”, in The Economist, →ISSN. From the entry nick
  • Unexpectedly, even some of the monoliths are throwing out new shoots.2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 44. From the entry monolith
  • What came next was Boylen unexpectedly and unsolicitedly supplying some context.2019 December 2, Darnell Mayberry, “Nuggets from my notebook: Are you buying the Bulls’ recent improvement?”, in The New York Times. From the entry unsolicitedly
  • The Armoury Section had, unexpectedly, proved to be a real moodclunker.2015, Jeff Torrington, Swing Hammer Swing!, page 255. From the entry right
  • Two flags of color rosied the jut of his cheekbones, giving him an unexpectedly boyish look.2014, Lynn Viehl, Disenchanted & Co.. From the entry rosy
  • She thought the CN Tower was ugly up close, but unexpectedly lovely when viewed from airplane windows.2014, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven, Picador (2022), page 205. From the entry CN Tower
  • How often did the compiler crash, miscompile, or unexpectedly cost engineering time?2012, Jack Ganssle, The Art of Programming Embedded Systems, page 28. From the entry miscompile
  • McCoist unexpectedly ushered back a defender of his own with Kirk Broadfoot taking over from Steven Whittaker.2011 December 29, Keith Jackson, “SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0”, in Daily Record. From the entry usher
  • Because you kill me like this, so gently– I unexpectedly become anguished.2008, Hayashi Naotaka, “Prologue”, in Chaos;Head. From the entry boring
  • The American cannoneers, normally positioned well behind the front lines, found themselves unexpectedly thrust into a firefight.2002, Mark J. Reardon, “The Lost Battalion”, in Victory at Mortain: Stopping Hitler’s Panzer Counteroffensive (Modern War Studies)…. From the entry cannoneer
  • The harvest was unexpectedly good this year, but the agricultural cooperative was unable to purchase their surplus.2000, Chen Shui-Bian, “Learning and Transformation”, in David J. Toman, transl., The Son of Taiwan: The Life of Chen Shui-Bian and His…. From the entry Changhua
  • These are sporadic, starting suddenly and unexpectedly and ending just as suddenly.1953, Anthony Flew, A New Approach to Psychical Research, page 28. From the entry poltergeistic
  • Besançon—Besançon—Miriam had tried the pretty word over until unexpectedly she had fallen asleep.1915, Dorothy Richardson, Pointed Roofs, Broadview, published 2014, page 78. From the entry try over
  • When a friend today calls unexpectedly, our first response is usually to ask: “Is something wrong?” Telephobia is real.2025 May 31, Jo Ellison, “The beguiling charm of a bedtime phone call”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times…. From the entry telephobia
  • But Newdow (who argued his own case despite having minimal legal training) did an unexpectedly masterful job at the lectern.2023 December 12, Sambhav Sankar, “A justice stewarding a Constitution”, in SCOTUSblog. From the entry masterful
  • 'On Saturdays,'said Fräulein Brünnhilde unexpectedly, 'they have a prize draw.2015, Michael Bond, Monsieur Pamplemousse On the Spot, →ISBN. From the entry prize draw
  • But the programs have unexpectedly succeeded in lowering the former pupils’ rates of teen pregnancy, school dropout, delinquency, and work absenteeism.2013 September-October, Terrie Moffitt et al., “Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control”, in American Scientist. From the entry curiosity
  • You feel nervous that they'll return unexpectedly and catch you at something nefarious, even if the someone is in jail.2010 [1997], Stephen Greenleaf, Past Tense, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 47. From the entry skulduggerous
  • When coffee and cocoa prices unexpectedly dove, Côte d’Ivoire quickly went from Africa’s rich kid to crippling debtitude.2007: Bob Harris, Who Hates Whom: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing up: A Woefully Incomplete Guide…. From the entry dove
  • However, at this time, Syu You, the advisor to Yuan Shao, unexpectedly chose to defect to the side of Cao Cao.2006, 36計 [36 Strategies], →ISBN, →OCLC, page 39. From the entry Syu
  • I wanted no sudden nauticals swaggering unexpectedly round the old bollards while I was engaged in psychic exploration.1985, Jonathan Gash [pseudonym; John Grant], chapter 4, in Pearlhanger (A Lovejoy Novel of Suspense), New York, N.Y.: A Joan Kahn book…. From the entry nautical
  • Unexpectedly, however, parasite levels in birds treated with antipigeon hyperimmune plasma were higher than either of the other two groups.1975, Iowa State journal of research, Volumes 50-51, page 264. From the entry antipigeon
  • This unexpectedly strong opposition finally stopped the Japanese advance.1963, Trevor Nevitt Dupy, Asiatic Land Battles: Allied Victories in China and Burma, New York: Franklin Watts, Linc., page 44. From the entry Kweiyang
  • Quite unexpectedly an idea popped into Tarzan's head.1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The God of Tarzan”, in Jungle Tales of Tarzan, pages 92–93. From the entry ramification
  • The mattress platform on Davey’s bed fell unexpectedly, “trapping her neck against the upper surface of the side panel of the bed’s base,” Chipperfield explained.2024 October 14, Issy Ronald, “Woman killed by malfunctioning ottoman bed”, in CNN. From the entry asphyxia
  • Or Banksyesque games – found unexpectedly?2024, Marijam Did, Everything to Play For: An Insider's Guide to How Videogames are Changing Our World, Verso Books, page 230. From the entry Banksyesque
  • Lynton & Barnstaple Railway revivalists have unexpectedly been given a second chance to purchase the station, after the original sale deal fell through.2020 July 1, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Western: Bratton Fleming”, in Rail, page 24. From the entry fall through
  • Kill screens—a problem largely limited to arcade games—occur when an unexpectedly far progress of a player causes an error in the game program.2020, Michelle Herte, Forms and Functions of Endings in Narrative Digital Games, Routledge, →ISBN. From the entry kill screen
  • You have the ability to one-pump someone, while also being completely let down by it in the next breath with an unexpectedly weak shot.2020 March 16, Jacob Hale, “Did Fortnite secretly change Pump Shotguns in Season 2?”, in Dexerto, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2022. From the entry one-pump
  • And then unexpectedly, and serendipitously, Mr.2019 December 1, Elizabeth Dias, Lisa Lerer, The New York Times. From the entry serendipitously
  • The midi skirt, which you would imagine to be an almost polar opposite look to black trousers, has unexpectedly edged them out of my wardrobe.2016 October 28, Jess Cartner-Morley, The Guardian. From the entry midiskirt
  • Showing an unexpectedly fleet turn of foot, she ducked through to safety, smartly shutting the door in our faces just in time.2015, P. N. Elrod, Dance of Death, →ISBN, page 58. From the entry turn of foot

Meaning of unexpectedly

  1. adverb In an unexpected manner.

Full definition of unexpectedly

Questions about unexpectedly in a sentence

How do you use unexpectedly in a sentence?
Unexpectedly is used as an adverb. For example: “Problems can arise unexpectedly, but we need to be prepared for them.”
What is a short sentence with unexpectedly?
“And then unexpectedly, and serendipitously, Mr.”
What does unexpectedly mean?
Unexpectedly means in an unexpected manner.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unexpectedly (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use unexpectedly in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/unexpectedly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.