abrupt

abrupt
    adj 1: marked by sudden changes in subject and sharp
           transitions; "abrupt prose" [syn: {abrupt},
           {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: {abrupt}, {precipitous},
       {sharp}]
    4: surprisingly and unceremoniously brusque in manner; "an
       abrupt reply"
    

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

         "Over the vast abrupt."                  --Milton.
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Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, v. t.
   To tear off or asunder. [Obs.] "Till death abrupts them."
   --Sir T. Browne.
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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.
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   2. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden;
      hasty; unceremonious. "The cause of your abrupt
      departure." --Shak.
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   3. Having sudden transitions from one subject to another;
      unconnected.
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            The abrupt style, which hath many breaches. --B.
                                                  Jonson.
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   4. (Bot.) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off. --Gray.
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   Syn: Sudden; unexpected; hasty; rough; curt; unceremonious;
        rugged; blunt; disconnected; broken.
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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."
    

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