Meaning

(obsolete, rare) Broken away (from restraint)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (obsolete, rare) Broken away (from restraint).
2. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious.
3. Curt in manner.
4. Having sudden transitions from one subject or state to another; unconnected; disjointed.
5. (obsolete) Broken off.
6. Extremely steep or craggy as if broken up; precipitous.
7. (botany) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off; truncate.
8. (transitive, archaic) To tear off or asunder.

Example Sentences

The party came to an abrupt end when the parents of our host arrived.

The cause of your abrupt departure.

There was something in this abrupt allusion to the treasured and hidden past, that at once shocked and silenced Norbourne. He was annoyed to find that his heart's sweetest secret was in the possession of one so little likely to keep it;...

'Is it a slickstone?' she asks, and Maren snorts, an abrupt sound, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

With no great disparity between them in point of years, they were, in every other respect, as unlike and far removed from each other as two men could well be. The one was soft-spoken, delicately made, precise, and elegant; the other, a burly square-built man, negligently dressed, rough and abrupt in manner, stern, and, in his present mood, forbidding both in look and speech.

The abrupt style, which hath many breaches.

The mazy-running brook Forms a deep pool; this bank abrupt and high.

To the north the towering scree-strewn slopes of Saddleback begin to draw nearer as we start the abrupt descent towards Keswick.

Word Forms

• more abrupt
• abrupter
• most abrupt
• abruptest
• abrupts
• abrupting
• abrupted

Synonyms for abrupt

Related Words

When Should You Use Abrupt?

Use abrupt when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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