abruptly
Americanadverb
-
without warning; suddenly or unexpectedly.
Not noticing that the car in front of him had stopped abruptly, he rear-ended it.
-
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?”
-
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
Etymology
Origin of abruptly
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.
He shocked many by having an entire section of the White House abruptly bulldozed last October, announcing the need for a new large-scale events center.
From Barron's
The study, published in Physical Review Letters, demonstrates that viscous liquids can abruptly snap when stretched with enough force.
From Science Daily
“Yeah, turns out she’s into one of her guy best frien—” Ethan stopped abruptly and had the decency to wince when he caught my panicked expression.
From Literature
It blew in great, roaring gusts, then abruptly died, leaving an empty space that echoed with the most disturbing sound: a far-off moaning, as if the woods were trying to tell Clare something.
From Literature
Barron’s Roundtable: No matter how much and how well we save, invest, and prepare, we’re often thrown off course when the rules of the game abruptly change.
From Barron's
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.
