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Synonyms

abruptly

American  
[uh-bruhpt-lee] / əˈbrʌpt li /

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

Etymology

Origin of abruptly

abrupt ( def. ) + -ly

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.