Hypertext Webster Gateway: "abrupt"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, n. [L. abruptum.]
An abrupt place. [Poetic]
``Over the vast abrupt.'' --Milton.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Abrupt \Ab*rupt"\, v. t.
To tear off or asunder. [Obs.] ``Till death abrupts them.''
--Sir T. Browne.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (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"
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