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

That task force was abruptly disbanded recently, and the system tracking progress of funding requests was frozen, making the process even more opaque.

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In Paris, European and Arab foreign ministers met to discuss the implementation of the plan and Gaza’s postwar future—without the participation of Rubio, who abruptly canceled his trip the day before.

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“History tells us this sentiment can turn abruptly,” she said.

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It led to a roller coaster of a week in late September, in which the company abruptly closed hundreds of stores and laid off thousands of employees.

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Macron had been wielding the unspoken threat of dissolving the National Assembly and holding parliamentary elections after his latest prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, abruptly resigned Monday amid bickering over his cabinet choices.

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Related Words

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