Search Result for "abrupt":
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (4)

1. marked by sudden changes in subject and sharp transitions;
- Example: "abrupt prose"
[syn: abrupt, disconnected]

2. exceedingly sudden and unexpected;
- Example: "came to an abrupt stop"
- Example: "an abrupt change in the weather"

3. extremely steep;
- Example: "an abrupt canyon"
- Example: "the precipitous rapids of the upper river"
- Example: "the precipitous hills of Chinese paintings"
- Example: "a sharp drop"
[syn: abrupt, precipitous, sharp]

4. surprisingly and unceremoniously brusque in manner;
- Example: "an abrupt reply"



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, n. [L. abruptum.]
   An abrupt place. [Poetic]

         "Over the vast abrupt."                  --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, v. t.
   To tear off or asunder. [Obs.] "Till death abrupts them."
   --Sir T. Browne.
   [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, a. [L. abruptus, p. p. of abrumpere to break
   off; ab + rumpere to break. See Rupture.]
   1. Broken off; very steep, or craggy, as rocks, precipices,
      banks; precipitous; steep; as, abrupt places. "Tumbling
      through ricks abrupt," --Thomson.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden;
      hasty; unceremonious. "The cause of your abrupt
      departure." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Having sudden transitions from one subject to another;
      unconnected.
      [1913 Webster]

            The abrupt style, which hath many breaches. --B.
                                                  Jonson.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Bot.) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off. --Gray.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Sudden; unexpected; hasty; rough; curt; unceremonious;
        rugged; blunt; disconnected; broken.
        [1913 Webster]


The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

ABRUPT, adj.  Sudden, without ceremony, like the arrival of a cannon-
shot and the departure of the soldier whose interests are most
affected by it.  Dr. Samuel Johnson beautifully said of another
author's ideas that they were "concatenated without abruption."



Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

94 Moby Thesaurus words for "abrupt":
   aggressive, arduous, bearish, beastly, bluff, blunt, blunt-edged,
   blunt-ended, blunt-pointed, blunted, bluntish, bold, brash,
   breakneck, breathless, brief, brisk, brusque, casual, cavalier,
   churlish, crisp, crusty, curt, discourteous, dull, dull-edged,
   dull-pointed, dulled, dullish, edgeless, electrifying, faired,
   gruff, harsh, hasty, headlong, hurried, impetuous, impolite,
   impulsive, informal, nerve-shattering, obtuse, panting,
   perpendicular, plumb, plunging, pointless, precipitant,
   precipitate, precipitous, quick, rapid, rash, ready, rough,
   rounded, rude, rushing, severe, sharp, sheer, shocking, short,
   sideling, smoothed, snappish, snappy, snippety, snippy, speedy,
   startling, steep, stickle, sudden, surly, surprising, swift,
   truculent, unannounced, unanticipated, unceremonious, uncivil,
   unedged, unexpected, unforeseen, unlooked-for, unplanned,
   unpointed, unpredicted, unsharp, unsharpened, vertical