abruptly

[uh-bruhpt-lee]

adverb

1. without warning; suddenly or unexpectedly.

   Not noticing that the car in front of him had stopped abruptly, he rear-ended it.

2. 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?”

3. 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

• unabruptly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of abruptly¹

abrupt ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

It was abruptly discontinued after Stephen Colbert made critical remarks against the president.

From BBC

After 10 months of negotiations, Loyola Marymount University abruptly announced it would no longer recognize its faculty union.

From Los Angeles Times

Cooper played the central character, Jamie Miller, a schoolboy who is abruptly woken up by the police storming his house in the show's first episode.

From BBC

Then, following a 1980 gig at Houston’s Astrodome, Cassidy abruptly quit music to focus on writing and acting, which he describes as his real passion.

From Los Angeles Times

“Giving it for two years, or whatever, and then abruptly stopping it, instead of phasing it down… that could have helped families prepare to readjust and rethink,” he said in 2023.

From Salon

Related Words

• all of a sudden 
• precipitously www.thesaurus.com
• suddenly 
• unexpectedly