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abrupt
[ uh-bruhpt ]
adjective
- sudden or unexpected:
an abrupt departure.
Antonyms: gradual
- curt or brusque in speech, manner, etc.:
an abrupt reply.
Synonyms: blunt, hasty, hurried, short
Antonyms: courteous, patient, deliberate
- terminating or changing suddenly:
an abrupt turn in a road.
Antonyms: gradual
- having many sudden changes from one subject to another; lacking in continuity or smoothness:
an abrupt writing style.
Synonyms: uneven, broken, discontinuous
- steep; precipitous:
an abrupt descent.
- Botany. truncate ( def 4 ).
abrupt
/ əˈbrʌpt /
adjective
- sudden; unexpected
- brusque or brief in speech, manner, etc; curt
- (of a style of writing or speaking) making sharp transitions from one subject to another; disconnected
- precipitous; steep
- botany shaped as though a part has been cut off; truncate
- geology (of strata) cropping out suddenly
Derived Forms
- abˈruptly, adverb
- abˈruptness, noun
Other Words From
- ab·rupt·ly adverb
- ab·rupt·ness noun
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of abrupt1
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Chipmakers curbed production then ramped back up, though they still can't meet the industry's abrupt demand rebound.
Our best bet right now, based on the abrupt shift in model projections toward some meaningful precipitation, is that some wet snow will occur.
Jumping into a message without at least a “Hi” is abrupt and rude in email, but less so in a text.
The discovery, described January 16 in Cretaceous Research, suggests that mosasaurs were evolving experimental physical traits and lifestyles right up until their abrupt extinction 66 million years ago.
The retelling also seems to confirm long-standing rumors that Sean “Diddy” Combs — a frequent target of Williams — had a hand in Williams’s abrupt 1998 departure from the prominent hip-hop station.
In May 2009, however, the president had an abrupt change of heart.
Fans felt cheated by the abrupt end of a marriage seasons in the making (to Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery).
Biologist Mattson is alarmed by the abrupt 2008 rise in grizzly mortality from conflicts both with livestock and hunters.
King declined to elaborate on what that “immediate and abrupt action” would be, saying only that he had “a few ideas.”
The abrupt increase that night in U.S. sorties also stopped the town falling.
There was no vivacity in his putty-coloured features, but there were promptitude and decision in every abrupt gesture.
The intricacies and abrupt turns in the road separated him from his immediate followers.
She had begun to speak with an abrupt and almost fierce nervous irritation, but she recovered herself immediately.
Some of his violins possess a distinguishing mark in a rather abrupt rise in the centre.
The speech came to an abrupt end when, losing her balance, she fell to the ground, and lay there in drunken contentment.
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