Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Unexpectedly sudden: an abrupt change in the weather.
- adj. Surprisingly curt; brusque: an abrupt answer made in anger.
- adj. Touching on one subject after another with sudden transitions: abrupt prose.
- adj. Steeply inclined. See Synonyms at steep1.
- adj. Botany Terminating suddenly rather than gradually; truncate: an abrupt leaf.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Broken or appearing as if broken away or off; marked by or showing a sudden breach or change of continuity; wanting continuation or completion: as, the path or the discourse came to an abrupt termination; an abrupt turn in a road. Hence Steep; precipitous: as, an abrupt cliff; an abrupt descent.
- Figuratively, sudden; without notice to prepare the mind for the event; unceremonious: as, an abrupt entrance or address.
- Lacking in continuity; having sudden transitions from one subject to another: as, an abrupt style.
- In botany, terminating suddenly: as, an abrupt point: sometimes used in the sense of truncate: as, an abrupt leaf.
- n. An abrupt place; a precipice or chasm.
- To break off; interrupt; disturb.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Broken off; very steep, or craggy, as rocks, precipices, banks; precipitous; steep.
- adj. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious.
- adj. Having sudden transitions from one subject to another; unconnected.
- adj. (Bot.) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off.
- n. Poetic An abrupt place.
- v. obsolete To tear off or asunder.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. extremely steep
- adj. surprisingly and unceremoniously brusque in manner
- adj. marked by sudden changes in subject and sharp transitions
- adj. exceedingly sudden and unexpected
Etymologies
- Latin abruptus, past participle of abrumpere, to break off : ab-, away; see ab-1 + rumpere, to break; see reup- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term abrupt climate change arose in the study of past climate.”
“No," she said, a word abrupt and uncommon to her, putting the ka’athyra back on its shelf with finality.”
“Ah Cho looked at him in abrupt perplexity and said:”
“Perhaps the gun violence would end if these killers knew their lives would be placed in abrupt jeopardy.”
“Those of you truly interested in abrupt climate change will want to read Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises, by the Division of Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council, and published by the National Academy Press in 2002.”
“The most unwanted music is over 25 minutes long, veers wildly between loud and quiet sections, between fast and slow tempos, and features timbres of extremely high and low pitch, with each dichotomy presented in abrupt transition.”
“The eyes should be moved in short, abrupt, irregular movements.”
“The double nature of the typhoon, seasonal and abrupt, is reflected in the nature of the people.”
“Look out! , came the shouts in abrupt bursts of tangible sound.”
“This information was flung out in short, abrupt sentences, and with an air of complete indifference.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abrupt’.
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 319 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
upt
abrupt, corrupt, disrupt, erupt, re-upped, bankrupt, rupture, voluptuous, nuptials, uptake, uptick, uptown and 15 more...
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rodrigo's list
aspidistra, mosaic, murmur, sussuration, clap, assiduous, hasp, clench, rhythm, solemn, seldom, slash and 18 more...
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5000 FREE SAT Words
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 229 more...
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generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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reginaterra's Words
purl, blow, squish, andean, generality, adaptation, lush, pack, filter, acquiesce, abstraction, sweet and 508 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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Sudden
Adjectives meaning sudden
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practice 2
100 words
momentous, domicile, adroit, ingenious, dexterous, genius, brevity, decorum, propriety, dignity, err, blunder and 91 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
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GMAT
part of speech, frown, brow, immensely, immense, incomprehensible, toil, concision, concise, proper noun, hyphenated, dash and 190 more...
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xstala's Words
oneiric, inchoate, clandestine, tangerine, brusque, clout, benedictine, argonaut, juniper, tulle, zealot, vesper and 175 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for abrupt.
jeen0809 He entered the door abruptly. Mar 14, 2007
jiyoungchoi92 There was an abrupt change in the weather. Mar 12, 2007