abrupt

1. 1.

   marked by sudden changes in subject and sharp transitions

   “abrupt prose”

   Synonymsdisconnected

   Similarstaccato
2. 2.

   exceedingly sudden and unexpected

   “came to an abrupt stop”

   “an abrupt change in the weather”

   Similarsudden
3. 3.

   extremely steep

   “an abrupt canyon”

   “the precipitous rapids of the upper river”

   “the precipitous hills of Chinese paintings”

   “a sharp drop”

   Synonymsprecipitoussharp

   Similarsteep
4. 4.

   surprisingly and unceremoniously brusque in manner

   “an abrupt reply”

   Similardiscourteous

Other forms of abrupt

comparative

abrupter·

superlative

abruptest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about abrupt

What does abrupt mean?

abrupt means "marked by sudden changes in subject and sharp transitions". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in abrupt?

abrupt has 2 syllables: a-brupt. The stress falls on "brupt". In IPA it is /əˈbɹʌpt/.

What is another word for abrupt?

Close synonyms include disconnected, precipitous, sharp. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is abrupt a common word?

abrupt is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.