abrupt

First attested in 1583. Borrowed from Latin abruptus (“broken off”), perfect passive participle of abrumpō (“break off”), formed from ab (“from, away from”) + rumpō (“to break”).[1][2]

• (US) IPA^(key): /ə.bɹʌpt/, /aˈbɹʌpt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌpt

abrupt (comparative more abrupt or abrupter, superlative most abrupt or abruptest)

1. (obsolete, rare) Broken away (from restraint). [Attested only in the late 16th century.][1]
2. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]

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

   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Henry VI Part I, II-iii:

     The cause of your abrupt departure.

3. Curt in manner. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]

   Synonyms: brusque, rude, uncivil, impolite

   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 633494058, chapter 12, page 301:

     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.

4. Having sudden transitions from one subject or state to another; unconnected; disjointed. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Ben Jonson, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     The abrupt style, which hath many breaches.

5. (obsolete) Broken off. [Attested from the early 17th century until the mid 18th century.][1]
6. Extremely steep or craggy as if broken up; precipitous. [First attested in the early 17th century.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Thomson, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Tumbling through ricks abrupt.

7. (botany) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off; truncate. [First attested in the early 19th century.][1]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of en to this entry?)

• (precipitous): broken, rough, rugged
• (without time to prepare): brusque, sudden
• (uncivil):blunt, brusque
• (without transition): disconnected, unexpected

abrupt (third-person singular simple present abrupts, present participle abrupting, simple past and past participle abrupted)

1. (transitive, archaic) To tear off or asunder. [First attested in the mid 17th century.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Sir T. Browne, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Till death abrupts them.

2. To interrupt suddenly. [First attested in the mid 17th century.][1]

abrupt (plural abrupts)

1. (poetic) Something which is abrupt; an abyss. [First attested in the mid 17th century.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Milton, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Over the vast abrupt.

Borrowed from Latin abruptus.

• IPA^(key): /a.bʁypt/

• Audio

  (file)

abrupt (feminine singular abrupte, masculine plural abrupts, feminine plural abruptes)

1. Extremely steep, near vertical.
2. Curt and abrupt.
3. Done or said forwardly and without caution to avoid shocking.

• “abrupt” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from Latin abruptus.

• Audio

  (file)

abrupt (comparative abrupter, superlative am abruptesten)

1. abrupt, suddenly
2. jerkingly

Borrowed from French abrupt, Latin abruptus.

• IPA^(key): /aˈbrupt/[1]

abrupt m or n (feminine singular abruptă, masculine plural abrupți, feminine and neuter plural abrupte)

1. abrupt
2. extremely steep, near vertical

• Audio

  (file)

abrupt

1. abrupt, sudden

abrupt

1. suddenly

• plötsligt