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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
abrupt
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a sudden/abrupt end (=sudden and unexpected)
▪ After the news leaked out, his political career came to a sudden end.
abrupt
▪ the abrupt onset of the rainy season in India (= happening very quickly and suddenly)
an abrupt halt (=one that is sudden and unexpected)
▪ His career came to an abrupt halt when he was seriously injured in a road accident.
sudden/abrupt (=done suddenly, without being planned)
▪ I didn't know how I was going to explain his abrupt departure to the others.
▪ Their departure seemed rather sudden.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
so
▪ The transition was so abrupt that it took her by surprise.
▪ For a. brief moment he regretted having been so abrupt with the caller.
▪ Despite the three-hour length, the descent of Kathy Bates's character into madness is so abrupt as to be risible.
▪ Everybody was so abrupt, as if they didn't believe him.
▪ Braun even passed that test, although the transition was so abrupt that he left some of us leaning the wrong way.
too
▪ Discussing it afterwards, many people said it was too abrupt, but Mrs Travers and Mrs Patel defended it.
▪ But his dismissal was too abrupt for young boys.
▪ Does the evidence therefore suggest that the slowdown so far is much too abrupt?
▪ There were no drainage ditches here, the shoulders too abrupt, the slope too precipitous, to collect water.
■ NOUN
change
▪ Where the soil is different there are abrupt changes in the use which people have made of the land.
▪ There are no abrupt changes.!
▪ In the finale the abrupt changes of pace were contrasted to always good musical effect.
▪ Severe risk was involved in any abrupt change in the way in which we dealt with journalists.
▪ He is used to abrupt changes.
▪ The abrupt change from legacy to trust is very striking.
▪ Sudden and abrupt changes in stance and orientation are off-putting for the opponent so work out some routines to achieve this.
▪ Policy analysis needs to be concerned with a flow of interrelated policies, with abrupt changes of direction a comparatively rare occurrence.
departure
▪ His abrupt departure left her close to collapse.
▪ In view of the Duchess of York's abrupt departure from the royal family in March this year it was a prudent decision.
▪ David filled her dreams; the ecstasy of their lovemaking, and the pain and bewilderment of his abrupt departure.
▪ He also meets a leader who, after Mr Mandela's abrupt departure, can't help returning to the basic question.
▪ Chapter 31 Nora's abrupt departure had, at first, the desired effect upon John.
end
▪ All this came to an abrupt end following an explosion on one of his sites.
▪ However, this great satirical onslaught on the Royal Family came to an abrupt end.
▪ But all their exploits and explorations suddenly came to an abrupt end.
▪ But the increasingly nasty dispute came to an abrupt end as the government announced a settlement.
▪ But the dream came to an abrupt end when Peter Mott came down with polio.
▪ It was, however, an apt symbol for the abrupt end of her government's honeymoon.
▪ It comes to an abrupt end at a field of dirt, bulldozed to make room for a subdivision.
halt
▪ We come to an abrupt halt.
▪ The chase came to an abrupt halt when nine Mexicali police cars stopped the Jetta and its occupants.
▪ She rushed after him, almost bumping into him as he came to an abrupt halt in the kitchen doorway.
▪ His death in a 1956 car crash brought his career to an abrupt halt when he was just 26.
▪ Nutty arrived on time, thudding out of the dusk and pulling to an abrupt halt.
▪ As all the alarming possibilities ran through her head, she gave a loud gulp and came to an abrupt halt.
▪ But she suffered a setback when a bout of glandular fever looked like bringing her season to an abrupt halt.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Change it," he says in his abrupt, no-nonsense style.
▪ "It won't work," Mitchell says in his abrupt, no-nonsense style.
▪ His departure was abrupt and completely unexpected.
▪ His new boss was abrupt and didn't seem interested in his proposals.
▪ The police brought the demonstration to an abrupt end.
▪ There has been an abrupt shift in the government thinking regarding these issues.
▪ There may be an abrupt change in weather patterns.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Despite the three-hour length, the descent of Kathy Bates's character into madness is so abrupt as to be risible.
▪ In view of the Duchess of York's abrupt departure from the royal family in March this year it was a prudent decision.
▪ It was the abrupt way he pulled up running out a ball in Game 2 that alerted everyone there was a problem.
▪ It was, however, an apt symbol for the abrupt end of her government's honeymoon.
▪ Nothing could be more abrupt than the transition from childhood to school.
▪ The contrast for the eleven-year-old with the more informal and less specialist work of the primary school was sharp and abrupt.
▪ There are no abrupt changes.!
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Abrupt

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.

  2. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious. ``The cause of your abrupt departure.''
    --Shak.

  3. Having sudden transitions from one subject to another; unconnected.

    The abrupt style, which hath many breaches.
    --B. Jonson.

  4. (Bot.) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off.
    --Gray.

    Syn: Sudden; unexpected; hasty; rough; curt; unceremonious; rugged; blunt; disconnected; broken.

Abrupt

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

``Over the vast abrupt.''
--Milton.

Abrupt

Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, v. t. To tear off or asunder. [Obs.] ``Till death abrupts them.''
--Sir T. Browne.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
abrupt

1580s, from Latin abruptus "broken off, precipitous, disconnected," past participle of abrumpere "break off," from ab- "off" (see ab-) + rumpere "break" (see rupture (n.)). Related: Abruptly; abruptness.

Wiktionary
abrupt
  1. 1 (context obsolete rare English) Broken away (from restraint). (Attested only in the late 16th century.)(R:SOED5: page=8) 2 Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious. (First attested in the late 16th century.) 3 curt in manner; brusque; rude; uncivil; impolite. (First attested in the late 16th century.) 4 Having sudden transitions from one subject or state to another; unconnected; disjointed. (First attested in the late 16th century.) 5 (context obsolete English) Broken off. (Attested from the early 17th century until the mid 18th century.) 6 Extremely steep or craggy as if broken up; precipitous. (First attested in the early 17th century.) 7 (context botany English) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off; truncate. (First attested in the early 19th century.) n. (context poetic English) Something which is #Adjective; an abyss. (First attested in the mid 17th century.) v

  2. 1 (context transitive archaic English) To tear off or asunder. (First attested in the mid 17th century.) 2 To interrupt suddenly. (First attested in the mid 17th century.)

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

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

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

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

Usage examples of "abrupt".

He had instead been cultivating his acquaintanceship with Mercer, a game plan that would have come to an abrupt end if the Lorrimores had deserted the trip, which they would have done at once if the Canadian had ploughed into their home-from-home.

Es ist andererseits keine leichte Aufgabe, sich in der Menge des Materials und in dem oft krausen Stil und abrupten Gedankengang zurechtzufinden.

And if to be loosed from sin and shame, by means however abrupt, be not liberty of the most exalted, spiritual kind, then, young man, you are a bondslave indeed, to your own ignoble desires.

Clearly something big and abrupt, and probably cataclysmic, had produced this arresting spike.

When she turned from him and walked over to Dade, speaking to him in a low voice, he could not have told which affected him most, his rage against himself or his disappointment over her abrupt leave-taking.

I was so surprised, so amazed at having obtained a felicity of which I did not think myself worthy, that my departure must have appeared rather abrupt to her.

Nathan, of shipping aboard as mate on a cargo ship bound for India or China, when abruptly and happily my doldrum state came to an abrupt end.

An abrupt turn then led over rough ground, the lower folds of the Umm Furut, where a great granite gorge, the Nakb Abu Shar, ran up to a depression in the dorsum, an apparently practicable Col.

The message was curt and abrupt, as were most naval messages whose drafters always seemed to be trying for the title of who could put the most information into the fewest words.

An abrupt change of landscape into something dreamish and unsettling, where wisp-shapes rise in basalt-hard congelation, clotted clouds on which the tough fauna of the smokestone run.

The only thing that worried Fred was how and where he could contact Professor Durand without making the meeting too abrupt.

The dynast made an abrupt gesture, and the cadaver lowered the weapon, brought it down butt end against the cavern floor, and resumed standing at attention.

The laminar flow that marked the flyway came to an abrupt end at the cloud wall.

In addition to what looked like the original monastery buildings, Aiglemont had a glass solarium, which probably covered a pool of some sort, a structure housing the mechanical system for the funicular, a narrow concrete or stone patio in front, and a sickly piece of green which turned out to be a small, oblong patch of Alpine meadow that ran along the side of the main buildings and ended in an abrupt drop-off to the valley floor thousands of feet below.

What counted was that there had been an abrupt shift in the balance between them, and Placido Geist felt less than confident where his loyalties lay.