abrupt
12
4.9
- adjective
- /əˈbrʌpt/
- Gentlemen, I hate to be abrupt... but I do have a budget meeting I need to run to.
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Watch on YouTubeDon't be rude, don't run away, don't be abrupt, but sit with it.
- Don't be rude, don't run away, don't be abrupt, but sit with it.
- Now it becomes a bigger issue if your frontline staffers are abrupt and rude.
- There are cultures in which more direct and abrupt communication is more normalized.
Examples
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I apologize if I appear abrupt.
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I apologize if I seemed a little abrupt.
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And it was a very short, abrupt conversation.
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Well, I guess I have been a little abrupt.
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Is he always so abrupt?
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Sorry to be so abrupt, but it's time for a quiz!
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The driver's manner grew more abrupt; apparently, he acted as a security guard too.
Fiction book (1999) -
Well, this may seem abrupt, and that's because there's good news and bad news.
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The twenty-two-year-old Santini was a good secretary but sounded too abrupt on the telephone for Anne's taste.
Fiction book (1992) -
His reply was so abrupt that it caught everyone off guard.
Synonyms
558
1.0
Not polite or showing little respect for others
100
3.8
Speaking in a direct, plain way that can sound rude
23
5.6
Abrupt and rude in speech or behavior
21
2.3
Not showing good manners or respect to other people
9
7.2
Using very few words in a way that seems rude
7
7.7
Rude and very short when speaking or acting
1
6.7
Done quickly and without polite or formal manners
1
8.4
Speaking or behaving in a short, rude way
Antonyms
How Abrupt
Surface Forms
Morphology
abrupt = ab + rupt
Although historically analyzable as ab- + rupt, 'rupt' is not a standalone English word and the meaning is not transparently recoverable by an average B1 learner.
Etymology
Abrupt comes from ab- ('away') and rupt ('break'), which gives the idea of something cut short or 'broken off'. A short, sudden way of speaking feels like it stops abruptly, so abrupt can mean blunt or rude in manner.