Idiom/expression that means "to suddenly tell some news" to someone?

These were the first ones that popped up in my mind (disclaimer: I'm not a native English speaker):

He threw me the news a month ago.

He flung the news at me a month ago.

He dropped the news on me a month ago.

Thy don't appear on Google, so I suspect they are not grammatical or idiomatic. But I'm looking something along the lines. Any suggestions?


I would use

He sprang the news on me.

spring on v. To present or disclose something to someone unexpectedly or suddenly: They sprang the news on all their friends that they were having a baby. The company president sprang on us the plan to lay people off.


He blurted out the news.

Blurt (MW)

to utter abruptly and impulsively


He broke the news to me a month ago.

This is by far the most idiomatic expression for this meaning, and implies a degree of suddenness to the action -- "He told me a month ago" would likely be used if it were not a somewhat abrupt announcement.


You could consider using drop the news bomb if you want to emphasize the sudden and shocking aspect as in:

The level of excitement among basketball and cartoon lovers the entire world jumped to an extreme level Monday when The Hollywood Reporter dropped the news bomb: Justin Lin, best known for several entries in the "Fast and the Furious" series, is co-writing "Space Jam 2," starring LeBron James.

[www.sportingnews.com]

Trump’s senior adviser, Daniel Scavino, Jr., was among the first to drop the news bomb today.

[redstatewatcher.com]


If you want to underline the fact that the news were disclosed suddenly you may use the idiomatic expression:

to come out with:

  • to say something suddenly and unexpectedly:
    • He comes out with the strangest things! She comes out with some good ideas though.

Cambridge Dictionary

  • He came out with the news one month ago.