abruptly
Americanadverb
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without warning; suddenly or unexpectedly.
Not noticing that the car in front of him had stopped abruptly, he rear-ended it.
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in few words and without using any polite formulas; brusquely.
My 14-year-old son was calling; as soon as I picked up, he asked abruptly, “How long till you get home?”
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steeply; sharply.
At one end, the meadow flowed into a large valley; at the other, it dropped off abruptly in a cliff.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of abruptly
Explanation
If the weather changes abruptly, from bright and sunny to pouring down rain, you're going to get wet. When something happens abruptly, it is sudden and unexpected. Almost anything can change abruptly, and it will always take you by surprise, whether it's the movement of a car, the mood of a movie, or the behavior of your dog. If you've ever had a conversation with someone who spoke to you abruptly, you may have found them a little rude. A physical attribute can also be described as abrupt, like when the edge of a rocky cliff drops abruptly to the ocean.
Vocabulary lists containing abruptly
A Long Walk to Water
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"Of Mice and Men"
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Number the Stars
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent turned USC administrator, abruptly stepped down from the board in October after facing a contentious renomination process.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
The confirmation by a person familiar with the transaction settles weeks of speculation after Tuttle abruptly changed the ticker symbol of one its ETFs from “SPCX” to “SPCK” in April.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026
When Altman was abruptly fired by the OpenAI board just before Thanksgiving in 2023, one of the reasons cited by board member Ilya Sutskever was Altman’s inability to rein in Brockman.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026
That trend reversed abruptly in 2025, with a sharp price rise to £157.
From BBC • May 30, 2026
As the icebergs drift, the seawater erodes them from below, until the berg abruptly topples over and continues its journey upside down.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
