First attested in 1583. Borrowed from Latin abruptus, perfect passive participle of abrumpō ("break off"), formed from ab ("from, away from") + rumpō ("to break").

• (America) IPA: /əˈbɹʌpt/, /æbˈɹʌpt/

abrupt

1. (obsolete, rare) Broken away (from restraint). [Attested only in the late 16th century.]
2. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious. [First attested in the late 16th century.]

   The party came to an abrupt end when the parents of our host arrived.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Success”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC ↗, page 76 ↗:

     There was something in this abrupt allusion to the treasured and hidden past, that at once shocked and silenced Norbourne. He was annoyed to find that his heart's sweetest secret was in the possession of one so little likely to keep it;...

3. Curt in manner. [First attested in the late 16th century.]

   Synonyms: brusque, rude, uncivil, impolite, terse

   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 12.”, in Master Humphrey's Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, page 301 ↗:

     With no great disparity between them in point of years, they were, in every other respect, as unlike and far removed from each other as two men could well be. The one was soft-spoken, delicately made, precise, and elegant; the other, a burly square-built man, negligently dressed, rough and abrupt in manner, stern, and, in his present mood, forbidding both in look and speech.

4. Having sudden transitions from one subject or state to another; unconnected; disjointed. [First attested in the late 16th century.]
   • 1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter‎:

     The abrupt style, which hath many breaches.

5. (obsolete) Broken off. [Attested from the early 17th century until the mid 18th century.]
6. Extremely steep or craggy as if broken up; precipitous. [First attested in the early 17th century.]
   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC ↗:

     The mazy-running brook
     Forms a deep pool; this bank abrupt and high.

7. (botany) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off; truncate. [First attested in the early 19th century.]

• (precipitous) broken, rough, rugged
• (without time to prepare) sudden; see also Thesaurus:sudden
• (uncivil) blunt, brusque
• (without transition) disconnected, unexpected

• French: abrupt
• German: abrupt, jäh, schroff, steil
• Italian: brusco
• Portuguese: brusco, abrupto
• Russian: круто́й
• Spanish: abrupto, brusco

• French: brusque, precipité
• German: abrupt, jäh
• Italian: brusco, improvviso, inaspettato
• Portuguese: brusco, abrupto
• Russian: внеза́пный
• Spanish: repentino, súbito, abrupto

• French: brusque
• German: einsiblig, wortkarg, kurz angebunden
• Portuguese: brusco, rude
• Russian: бесцеремо́нный
• Spanish: abrupto, brusco, cortante

• German: abrupt, jäh
• Italian: discontinuo, discontinua, sconnesso, sconnessa
• Portuguese: brusco, abrupto
• Spanish: brusco, abrupto

• German: abgestumpft
• Spanish: abrupto

abrupt (abrupts, present participle abrupting; simple past and past participle abrupted)

1. (transitive, archaic) To tear off or asunder. [First attested in the mid 17th century.]
   • 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC ↗:

     Till death abrupts them.

2. To interrupt suddenly. [First attested in the mid 17th century.]

• Portuguese: abscindir

• Portuguese: abscindir, interromper

abrupt (plural abrupts)

1. (poetic) Something which is abrupt; an abyss. [First attested in the mid 17th century.]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:

     Over the vast abrupt.