Abrupt

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, n. [L. abruptum.]
     An abrupt place. [Poetic]
  
           "Over the vast abrupt."                  --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

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

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  abrupt
       adj 1: 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"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  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."