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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, adjective [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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, noun [L. abruptum.] An abrupt place. [Poetic]
''Over the vast abrupt.'' --Milton.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, verb (used with an object) To tear off or asunder. [Obs.] ''Till death abrupts them.'' --Sir T. Browne.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
abrupt
adjective
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, adjective 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."
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