Definition of "abrupt" []

• Unexpectedly sudden: an abrupt change in the weather. (adjective)
• Surprisingly curt; brusque: an abrupt answer made in anger. (adjective)
• Touching on one subject after another with sudden transitions: abrupt prose. (adjective)
• Steeply inclined. See Synonyms at steep1. (adjective)
• Botany Terminating suddenly rather than gradually; truncate: an abrupt leaf. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term abrupt climate change arose in the study of past climate."
• ""No," she said, a word abrupt and uncommon to her, putting the ka’athyra back on its shelf with finality."
• "Ah Cho looked at him in abrupt perplexity and said:"