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abrupt
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • The weather changed abruptly at about noon.
    abruptly = suddenly
  • She must have seen something of this in my expression, for she turned abruptly away and ran up the porch steps into the house.   (source)
  • He comes to an abrupt stop in front of the store, like he just noticed it.   (source)
    abrupt = sudden
  • The movement was so abrupt, Charles had no time to react.   (source)
  • But this was too abrupt—picnic, then mate the Marsh Girl.   (source)
  • More abruptly than expected, it stopped and appeared to be sucked toward the water.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • I sit up abruptly, and Bob topples off my stomach.   (source)
  • By candlelight, they crept along until they came to a place where the tunnel ended abruptly.   (source)
  • I can't move too quickly, my joints reject any abrupt motions.   (source)
    abrupt = sudden
  • She stood up so abruptly she knocked over a bottle of india ink, and ran into the bedroom.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
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show 88 more with this conextual meaning
  • The men fell silent, piecing together the rumors of one giant bomb vaporizing Hiroshima and the abrupt end to the war.   (source)
    abrupt = sudden
  • "Harry," said Hagrid abruptly as though struck by a sudden thought.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • "Hold on," Zero said, stopping abruptly.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • And then, once the time is right, with one abrupt, swift action I'm going to completely knock them out of my life.   (source)
    abrupt = sudden
  • It curved on around the property and abruptly stopped.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • Sled, he knew abruptly.   (source)
  • It was abrupt, as if the plane had turned.   (source)
    abrupt = sudden
  • He stopped abruptly, his eyes bulging in a terrified stare as Mr. Morrison climbed down from the wagon.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • Miles and Jesse grabbed at the horse's harness and he pulled up abruptly, nearly toppling Winnie off over his neck.   (source)
  • Turning abruptly, he said, "Let's go see Dallas."   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • She sits down, a little too abruptly.   (source)
  • His face went hard and he turned away abruptly to the window.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • "What did you guys do on your date?" she asked abruptly.   (source)
  • Abruptly the buzzing stopped and squawking seagulls surrounded his body.   (source)
  • Did a shadow fall across the moon or did the moon simply go out, extinguished as abruptly and completely as a candle?   (source)
  • "Heck," said Atticus abruptly, "that was a switchblade you were waving."   (source)
  • Mr. Ludsbury loomed abruptly out of a background of shrubbery.   (source)
  • She was within a hundred feet of the carriage when, having reached the end of the parade route, it abruptly turned into a side street and picked up speed, the entrance to the street blocked by a line of soldiers to prevent anyone from following.   (source)
  • Then abruptly the music stopped and the laughter was checked, and everyone crowded about the newcomers.   (source)
  • He stood up abruptly.   (source)
  • Montag laughed abruptly "Bet I know something else you don't."   (source)
  • He turns abruptly to go out.   (source)
  • I turned abruptly away, overcome by emotion.   (source)
  • Baldor abruptly spoke.   (source)
  • He laughed, and the mood abruptly lightened.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • The barrage lasted for fifteen seconds, then stopped abruptly.   (source)
  • Her father turned around so abruptly that the book almost fell from her hand.   (source)
  • She had stormed out of the room then, ripping the radio out of the socket, abruptly stopping Angel's dance.   (source)
  • "You can't take my rifle," he said abruptly, in a voice I knew meant trouble.   (source)
  • (Gets up abruptly, goes to his table and tears up the page he was writing on.)   (source)
  • My mother rose abruptly.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • He stopped pacing abruptly and turned his back on his queen...   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • Then Ms. Richter's attention abruptly shifted to them.   (source)
  • It stopped abruptly, for no visible reason,   (source)
  • Abruptly, not knowing beforehand that he would do it, he plucked the small ring from his little finger.   (source)
  • Zooey looked around abruptly at Franny,   (source)
  • He breaks away from her abruptly towards the upstage corner.   (source)
  • Fiedler abruptly stood up and taking Liz by the arm, he guided her to the door.   (source)
  • Abruptly her tone and manner change to...   (source)
  • Abruptly his mind went back to Katharine.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • He hesitated, then he said in a low strange voice: "That's peace-real peace. To come to the end--not to have to go on…. Yes, peace…."
    He turned abruptly and walked away.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • He turned abruptly and went to the door, but before he went out he turned and looked for a long moment at the two men.   (source)
  • Abruptly the tramping ceased.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • His thoughts still linger over the clear evenings in autumn, the Sundays in the heather, the village bells, the afternoons and evenings with the servant girls, the fried bacon and barley, the care-free hours in the ale-house— He can't part with all these dreams so abruptly; he merely growls: "What silly questions you do ask."   (source)
  • Stella rises abruptly and turns her back.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • And then he must have caught sight of me because he drew back abruptly,   (source)
  • Melanie stopped speaking and abruptly the anger left her face and sorrow swamped it.   (source)
  • The light had gone out abruptly, as though an agitated watcher were trying to hide from him.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly
  • "Well--upon my soul!" exclaimed Lawrence Lefferts, turning his opera-glass abruptly away from the stage.   (source)
  • Once, coming around a bend, he shied abruptly, like a startled horse, curved away from the place where he had been walking, and retreated several paces back along the trail.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • The heavy firing that had broken out while we were driving down Maybury Hill ceased as abruptly as it began,   (source)
  • Like violent people in general, he was subject to abrupt changes of opinion.   (source)
    abrupt = sudden
  • ...one evening, having informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight, (previously to its final interment,) in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building.   (source)
    abruptly = suddenly and unexpectedly
  • The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it…   (source)
    abrupt = sudden
  • He was daydreaming about getting an ankle holster, too, and a lightweight pistol to go with it, when he abruptly performed an involuntary somersault across the sandy scrub.†   (source)
  • Then, abruptly, the dogs fell silent.†   (source)
  • Then, abruptly, he says, "Oh yeah.†   (source)
  • Its appearance was like another peak abruptly inserted among the hills.†   (source)
  • All the itching of the past week abruptly took on a new dimension.†   (source)
  • Emile stood so abruptly he nearly knocked over his chair.†   (source)
  • Mamaw and Papaw left abruptly for Dayton, Ohio, where they lived briefly before settling permanently in Middletown.†   (source)
  • She turned abruptly and made to go.†   (source)
  • Minho stopped so abruptly Thomas almost ran him over.†   (source)
  • Red abruptly asked, interrupting the girls' conversation.†   (source)
  • Then he stops abruptly.†   (source)
  • Buksa stopped abruptly in front of a very large tree.†   (source)
  • Abruptly it vomited.†   (source)
  • Langdon," Fache said abruptly.†   (source)
  • I realized that I had gone on way too long, and I stopped abruptly.†   (source)
  • Conversation abruptly ceases.†   (source)
  • And then, abruptly, his eyes slid away from me and he closed his mouth.†   (source)
  • Abruptly he stood up.†   (source)
  • Then she turned abruptly and went back to her chair.†   (source)
  • With that, the boy turned and abruptly left the room.†   (source)
  • She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.†   (source)
  • Then he sat up again, abruptly.†   (source)
  • Fortunately, they didn't take the abuse beyond their slaps and abruptly left our apartment.†   (source)
  • She abruptly looked me in the face.†   (source)
  • The chief abruptly stopped the song.†   (source)
  • It cuts off abruptly.†   (source)
  • Owen threw up his hands so abruptly that the women were startled and moved away from him.†   (source)
  • We sat in the beating rain noise for a few minutes, then it abruptly stopped, like some annoying little kid had stopped banging on a pan.†   (source)
  • She stops reading abruptly and the static roars.†   (source)
  • The alchemist stopped abruptly, and bent to the ground.†   (source)
  • She changes the subject abruptly.†   (source)
  • I don't say anything, but I guess the tears running down my cheeks do the talking, because Pattie abruptly turns away and goes to the back of the salon.†   (source)
  • He stopped abruptly.†   (source)
  • There was nothing, and then, like a lamp turned on and off in total darkness, there was a little squeal of laughter abruptly smothered.†   (source)
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show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • Try not to be so abrupt with the people you manage. It may seem quicker, but we're losing talented people because they don't like working with you.
  • I had assumed after my abruptness last night that Telemachus would keep his distance.   (source)
    abruptness = rudeness or unfriendliness caused by using too few words or moving too quickly
  • I didn't pause for her reaction, even to see if I'd hurt her feelings with my abruptness.   (source)
    abruptness = done in a rude or unfriendly manner because of using too few words or moving too quickly
  • Thank you for your words, he says abruptly and leads Uhmma away to the back row of chairs.   (source)
    abruptly = in a manner that is rude or unfriendly because of using too few words or moving too quickly
  • The nature of the Service precluded elaborate farewells and the presentation of gold watches, but even by these standards Leamas' departure seemed abrupt.   (source)
    abrupt = done in a rude or unfriendly manner
  • Her manner was abrupt.   (source)
    abrupt = rude or unfriendly because of using too few words or moving too quickly
  • ...and if you'll just get over some of your abruptness and your unwillingness to appreciate big executives and charming women ... you and I can become the dictators of science throughout the whole country!   (source)
    abruptness = rudeness or unfriendliness caused by using too few words or moving too quickly
  • While I was waiting for an answer, her husband came in, and asked me in the most abrupt manner what I wanted.   (source)
    abrupt = rude or unfriendly
  • Then Enjolras approached the man and demanded of him:— "Who are you?"
    At this abrupt query, the man started.   (source)
    abrupt = done in a rude or unfriendly manner
  • I am sure you must have been struck by his awkward look and abrupt manner, and the uncouthness of a voice which I heard to be wholly unmodulated as I stood here.   (source)
    abrupt = rude or unfriendly
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show 7 more with this conextual meaning
  • Here Cecil Twyford, that lean abrupt man, ruled every acre and interpreted every law.   (source)
    abrupt = rude or unfriendly because of using too few words or moving too quickly
  • He was abrupt and jerky with patients who called him into the country.   (source)
  • Mr. Martin is now awkward and abrupt; what will he be at Mr. Weston's time of life?   (source)
    abrupt = rude or unfriendly
  • "Good morning to you,"—said he, rising and walking off abruptly.   (source)
    abruptly = in a rude or unfriendly manner
  • They earned their living by preparing sera which rather grudgingly they sold to physicians of whose honesty they were certain, abruptly refusing the popular drug-vendors.   (source)
    abruptly = rudely
  • I got up and relit the candles, making mild remarks about his abrupt methods of entering rooms.   (source)
    abrupt = rude because of using too few words and moving too quickly
  • She said all of this in her usual abrupt manner, but actually everything was ready for us when we reached the stand.   (source)
    abrupt = rude or unfriendly
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show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • And he pushes his cart down the sidewalk but comes to an abrupt stop again.†   (source)
  • He leads the girl from wall to wall, and then down an abrupt, cramped staircase.†   (source)
  • I know my request is abrupt.†   (source)
  • The pace of decline in the hallway had taken an abrupt downward turn when the cholera outbreak had been reported at Penn three days ago, and all the emergency shelters had been quarantined.†   (source)
  • He knew the boorish from the abrupt and the bitter from the boastful.†   (source)
  • Brigitte and Emma came into the kitchen, and the conversation came to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • The signal seemed to shudder for a moment, and then the blinking dot came to an abrupt stop about ten yards outside the perimeter of the building.†   (source)
  • "Just stay with him," said Harry, starting to get up, but his movement seemed to trigger another abrupt change in Mr. Crouch, who seized him hard around the knees and pulled Harry back to the ground.†   (source)
  • It started out as an abrupt shriek, like simple surprise, but then escalated into pure terror.†   (source)
  • I walked to the window and pulled back the curtain, feeling the sudden breeze, the abrupt drop in temperature.†   (source)
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show 190 more examples with any meaning
  • He was getting used to her abrupt entrances and exits.†   (source)
  • Speculation about Williams and his fate came to an abrupt halt after two days when Judge Oliver released him on a $200,000 bond pending appeal.†   (source)
  • The velociraptor was alert; as it came forward, it looked from side to side, moving its head with abrupt, bird-like jerks.†   (source)
  • The trailer plunged headlong into the soft soil and flipped over on to its balloon-roof, shuddering to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • As usual, my new plan came to an abrupt halt when Mother caught me in the act.†   (source)
  • Afterward, Tita opened the door just an inch, so the room would cool down a little bit and Mama Elena's body wouldn't suffer from an abrupt change of temperature.†   (source)
  • When we left the movie, Rashmi announced, "The ending was too abrupt.†   (source)
  • Her reaction had been so abrupt that everyone's attention had returned to her.†   (source)
  • I didn't want Rufus having to face some creditor that I had angered with my twentieth-century brevity —which could come across as nineteenth-century abruptness, even discourtesy.†   (source)
  • She began to clap madly in rhythm until the tune came to an abrupt end.†   (source)
  • There was no judgment there, only shock at my abrupt movement.†   (source)
  • "Although, I do have to say, it was difficult to imagine him going that way," Hobie said, in the abrupt silence that had fallen.†   (source)
  • "He is," he says, and makes an abrupt right turn down a short hallway that ends at a heavy iron door.†   (source)
  • Panic is abrupt.†   (source)
  • Other guests had left other rooms with the same abruptness.†   (source)
  • The bank came to an abrupt end at the Ramr, where the river ran dark and swift.†   (source)
  • Then, in three abrupt, slinking steps, she was upon the fish.†   (source)
  • LuLing's outbursts were becoming more frequent, more abrupt.†   (source)
  • After a few hours, the train came to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • Sarai had studied offworld for two years at the University of New Lyons on Deneb Drei, but she was homesick there: the sunsets were abrupt, the much-vaunted mountains slicing off the sunlight like a ragged scythe, and she longed for the hours-long sunsets of home where Barnard's Star hung on the horizon like a great, tethered, red balloon while the sky congealed to evening.†   (source)
  • In the abrupt bedlam, I could hear more than one person shouting my name.†   (source)
  • She shot me an evil look, hit her turn signal, and took a wide arc into the parking lot, coming to an abrupt stop in front of a pay phone.†   (source)
  • One day she was at work, the next gone, with no clear explanation for her abrupt departure.†   (source)
  • If I seem—abrupt, critical—it is only for your sake.†   (source)
  • "Get your bicycle," he ordered with his usual young abruptness.†   (source)
  • The labor peace that Coalwood had enjoyed for more than fifty years came to an abrupt end.†   (source)
  • On Nila's face was the expression people have when they have been startled by an abrupt loud noise, like a firecracker, or a door slammed by a sudden draft of wind.†   (source)
  • Is this what it's like, abrupt, peremptory?†   (source)
  • But then suddenly, following a particularly heinous insinuation against his employer, my father brought the car to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • Sudden and abrupt spears of light and color at times shot out even farther toward them.†   (source)
  • The train comes to an abrupt halt, brakes screeching alarmingly, at the signal on the London side of Witney.†   (source)
  • Then you stopped, had a rather abrupt lovers' reconciliation, and stole the hard drive together.†   (source)
  • Instead, he turned to Luke and demanded, with surprising abruptness, "Did the Inquisitor's son die?†   (source)
  • When he went to his office five days after receiving the letter from Fermina Daza, he felt as if he were floating in an abrupt and unusual absence of the noise of the typewriters, whose sound, like rain, had become less noticeable than silence.†   (source)
  • With abrupt decision, Paul...†   (source)
  • —he had second thoughts and attempted an abrupt about-face.†   (source)
  • It's true that leaving Japan would be an abrupt change.†   (source)
  • Your summons was pretty abrupt, son.†   (source)
  • It was awful for Bailey and me to encounter the reality one abrupt morning.†   (source)
  • He was a small but imposing man, with a grand, almost leonine countenance and a forceful manner, sometimes abrupt.†   (source)
  • She laughed, an abrupt laugh that sounded almost like a cough.†   (source)
  • "This is Patch," I said, racking my brain for something to say that would bring the pleasantries to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • Dewey, intentionally abrupt, terminated the interview.†   (source)
  • We came to an abrupt halt and our driver bolted from the car.†   (source)
  • They walked into Benno's, which was half-empty tonight, and sat, in a rather abrupt and mysterious silence, at one of the tables in the back.†   (source)
  • But this lull proved to be short-lived and came to an abrupt end one morning in September.†   (source)
  • They come to an abrupt stop before swinging gently, even though she's standing perfectly still.†   (source)
  • Whereas if we meet now with the husband and make some abrupt offer, we may run up against an untold amount of Navaho stubbornness and love of-I suppose we must call it home.†   (source)
  • Clinically, the animals showed abrupt anorexia [loss of appetite], and lethargy.†   (source)
  • For Luma, the change in lifestyle was abrupt.†   (source)
  • As they walked through the dining room, not speaking, Norah remembered the abruptness of Caroline's disappearance, the scandal.†   (source)
  • Then, with a rough, abrupt air, he said, "Who are you and what do you want?"†   (source)
  • As the youngest of the four, she had had the least chance to bond to the Island before our abrupt exile almost a decade before.†   (source)
  • There are abrupt limits to the number of cognitive categories we can make and the number of people we can truly love and the number of acquaintances we can truly know.†   (source)
  • I don't know if I reacted to the abrupt change of tone or not, but she immediately followed with, "I'm sorry, it's been a very long night and I could use a cup of coffee."†   (source)
  • First it was a hymn, all abrupt, odd, minor cadences and monotonous refrain.†   (source)
  • Startled at his father's abrupt departure, he answered: "Sure.†   (source)
  • We were back in civilian waters when suddenly we came to an abrupt stop and I toppled onto the deck.†   (source)
  • A chain of follies had put him there: Call's abrupt decision to become a cattleman and his own decision, equally abrupt, to try and rescue a girl foolish enough to be taken in by Jake Spoon.†   (source)
  • Strauss looked confused at the abrupt end to the interview but rose on unsteady legs.†   (source)
  • But even ideal towns have their dangers and their sorrows; their abrupt reminders of the fragility of the beating human heart.†   (source)
  • The afternoon she approached his table and, instead of continuing past to greet some young man, stop kungce=ped with an abrupt gracefulness and asked if she could join him, Litvinoff thought it was a joke.†   (source)
  • I made an abrupt scream and, as soon as I did, he shoved his hand in my mouth.†   (source)
  • I wanted to drink Heath's sweet blood while he satisfied my yearning for his touch, his body, his taste— The disjointed image I had of darkness cleared with an abruptness that was shocking.†   (source)
  • Aven also noticed Jack's abrupt departure.†   (source)
  • The boy made a soft, abrupt sound when the vampire said his name which the vampire acknowledged with the quick statement, "Yes, that is my name," and went on.†   (source)
  • The abrupt stillness seemed alien and artificial, a little insidious.†   (source)
  • The students in the room, each of whom had donned a pair of cheap plastic fangs, laughed loudly at Eddie's abrupt exit.†   (source)
  • Her gestures grew abrupt and unsteady.†   (source)
  • Elly phoned yesterday and said sorry she was so abrupt, but someone else came into the office just as we were talking.†   (source)
  • It came to an abrupt halt in that hothouse.†   (source)
  • Ryan came to an abrupt stop, panting, terrified by the thought.†   (source)
  • That's all, young man," he said, his tone abrupt, official.†   (source)
  • This one was relayed to Mrs. Gurgle, and the reply was abrupt.†   (source)
  • There was another scream, this lower, more abrupt, an expulsion of breath more than a roar.†   (source)
  • I was still puzzling over this as I reached the woods' abrupt edge and began skirting the golden fields of the Riley farm.†   (source)
  • Post-crash data analysis also gave rise to the suspicion that the pilot might have used the rudder to execute these abrupt changes of heading—which made no sense.†   (source)
  • Near midday, it came to an abrupt end at the foot of a wind-carved cliff.†   (source)
  • Hastening to soften his abruptness, Ciel said, "That's okay, Mattie, it's almost time for her nap.†   (source)
  • A couple of miles further on the stretch of forest came to an abrupt end, and we found ourselves looking across a narrow, cultivated valley.†   (source)
  • "Hmm?" asked the magus, puzzled at the abrupt change in topic.†   (source)
  • Falseness, in this case, meant abrupt.†   (source)
  • Apa grabs her by the shoulder and stops her in one abrupt movement.†   (source)
  • "Hello," said Rearden, fighting to control the unnatural abruptness of his voice.†   (source)
  • She crashed through the high grass, jumping the rusting shape of an old push mower leaning against one wall, then stumbled to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • GEORGE: (An abrupt change of pace) Well, now …. let's sit down and talk, hunh?†   (source)
  • People think that language evolves slowly over several generations, but sometimes it can change with dramatic abruptness.†   (source)
  • A gale came howling in off the ocean, so abrupt and powerful that all gave way before it.†   (source)
  • I ought to get back to His Highness as quickly as possible and offer him some plausible explanation for my rather abrupt conduct.†   (source)
  • They came at length to the steep abrupt end of Treebeard's Hill and looked up at the rock-wall with its rough steps leading to the high shelf.†   (source)
  • Sky noises and the abrupt light told her details of careers, incidental wisdom, allowing her to risk everything because the thunder would warn her along with the snake of lighming.†   (source)
  • Conversation skidded to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • Despite the increasing popularity of This I Believe, the series came to an abrupt end following two back-to-back blows to the Wheelock family.†   (source)
  • We spoke on the phone several times, but she was too well-bred and kind to be abrupt, despite the halting awkwardness of our conversations.†   (source)
  • "Nein," was the answer, the abruptness of which Alessandro associated not with rudeness but with vigor.†   (source)
  • An abrupt silence.†   (source)
  • In and out, we are swept,— …. we cannot step outside its sinuous, its hesitating, its abrupt, its perfectly encircling walls.†   (source)
  • Their pace grows slower and slower, until one of the bridges actually collapses from the weight, and the Confederate advance comes to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • Cassius noted the abrupt swing keenly, filing it away with the other information he had collected.†   (source)
  • After Saladin's abrupt departure, the preparations for Natalie's execution began in earnest.†   (source)
  • Then, with characteristic abruptness, he turned back and resumed filling in "o"s.†   (source)
  • "What with my abrupt departure from Boeing, I'm pretty much persona non grata in all the usual circles."†   (source)
  • Then the music started—loud piano keys with an electric guitar riffing right behind it and an abrupt thump of drums.†   (source)
  • That tail one, he even shook his head like Willie Begay did: two abrupt movements, almost too quick to see, and then he pulled the corporal to his feet.†   (source)
  • Abrupt silence.†   (source)
  • He wondered what had happened to the blind Welsh-man and his confederates, and how they had reacted to his abrupt departure.†   (source)
  • Then an abrupt knock at the door caused him to break apart from her swiftly and he uttered a soft, miserable "Scheiss!"†   (source)
  • KATE stands indecisive, and takes an abrupt step toward her, but ANNIE'S hand is a barrier.†   (source)
  • We'd lost perhaps two thousand men in the abrupt winter, and I didn't yet know how many Julian had accounted for.†   (source)
  • And then, the abrupt switch to a more pleasant subject that typified his instinct to look on the bright side:"New Port is the nicest place I ever seing."†   (source)
  • I was surprised by the abruptness and the desperation, and by the bigness of his request.†   (source)
  • There was a silence, during which Peters, with an abrupt and by no means friendly nod in Fiedler's direction, quietly let himself out of the room.†   (source)
  • You can hear abrupt thunderings And their grating echoes, While the gusts of wind Are making the curtains sway.†   (source)
  • He heard a long, deep sigh break from his father, and then his father's abrupt voice: "Well… and the hand lifted from him and they both stood up.†   (source)
  • Then with a strange, abrupt change to a detached, impersonal tone.†   (source)
  • It would be a mistake, however, to conclude from this that Senator Taft was cold and abrupt in his personal relationships.†   (source)
  • Ordinarily, Miss Eckhart never seemed disturbed by her mother's abrupt visits.†   (source)
  • You can't be so abrupt.†   (source)
  • He ate with distaste, making no effort to hide it, while Dick said nothing, and Mary made abrupt, unrelated remarks about the weather with that appalling coyness, shaking her earrings, writhing her thin shoulders, ogling Charlie with a conventional flirtatiousness.†   (source)
  • Clary responded to the abruptness in his tone by reaching out for his hand.†   (source)
  • She said, with anxious abruptness: 'What is it?†   (source)
  • I'm sorry," he said; she wondered whether she imagined the note of abruptness in his voice.†   (source)
  • There was something faintly familiar in the swift abruptness of his Galt.†   (source)
  • The sight of their faces hit her with the abruptness of a collision.†   (source)
  • Her sudden movement had the abruptness of a convulsion.†   (source)
  • When she grasped it, she burst out laughing, suddenly, with the abruptness of a cry.†   (source)
  • But before he could utter a single curse or insult, Harry felt a great pain at the top of his head; he inhaled a lot of ash and, choking, found himself being dragged backwards through the flames, until with a horrible abruptness he was staring up into the wide, pallid face of Professor Umbridge who had dragged him backwards out of the fire by the hair and was now bending his neck back as far as it would go, as though she were going to slit his throat.†   (source)
  • And then, with an abruptness that disoriented me, I stepped through a low arch made by two vine maples—pushing past the chest-high ferns—into the meadow.†   (source)
  • A high, shrieking cry, terrible in its desperation, and worse for the abruptness with which it was cut off.†   (source)
  • The sin is in the abruptness, in the abridgement of those stages that otherwise might be joined so brilliantly to make a life.†   (source)
  • He shot to his feet with the stored abruptness of a spring uncoiling, his voice driving on in merciless triumph: "You're beginning to see, aren't you?†   (source)
  • Galt turned away with a movement that seemed oddly out of character: it had the unrhythmical abruptness of the involuntary.†   (source)
  • It always happened unexpectedly, with a kind of peculiar abruptness, as if he had not intended doing it, but something burst within him and he had to speak.†   (source)
  • She walked, cutting across a room, with a masculine, straight-line abruptness, but she had a peculiar grace of motion that was swift, tense and oddly, challengingly feminine.†   (source)
  • The plane was above the peaks of the skyscrapers when suddenly, with the abruptness of a shudder, as if the ground had parted to engulf it, the city disappeared from the face of the earth.†   (source)
  • The confident skill of his movements, his manner of firing, with no time wasted to take aim, but with the kind of casual abruptness that never misses a target, made him look like a hero of Western legend-and Rearden watched him with detached, impersonal pleasure, as if the battle of the mills were not his any longer, but he could still enjoy the sight of the competence and certainty with which men of that distant age had once combatted evil.†   (source)
  • When Ruth saw it, she came to an abrupt halt.†   (source)
  • He too had once felt the abrupt hollowness of unexpectedly losing a parent.†   (source)
  • A little taken aback by the abrupt dismissal, Harry got to his feet quickly.†   (source)
  • Langdon came to an abrupt halt in the tunnel.†   (source)
  • Edward unzipped the sleeping bag in a swift, abrupt movement.†   (source)
  • Love jolted through him, abrupt and painful, followed by anger.†   (source)
  • Blood ran from the rat's mouth in an abrupt thin stream.†   (source)
  • He came to an abrupt halt at the end of Privet Drive.†   (source)
  • The abrupt subject change makes me shudder.†   (source)
  • Yes, some claimed Emile Zhukovsky was a curmudgeon and others called him abrupt.†   (source)
  • In the second before our lips touched, the truck came to an abrupt stop, flinging us forward.†   (source)
  • The car makes an abrupt stop, lurching us forward then sideways as Seven makes a wide U-turn.†   (source)
  • The Dursleys appeared taken aback at his abrupt change of mind.†   (source)
  • The Emperor's face was touched by an abrupt smile.†   (source)
  • Ron came to an abrupt halt, but Hermione took him by the elbow and tugged him on up the stairs.†   (source)
  • The necropolis came to an abrupt halt at a wall of earth.†   (source)
  • At first, Langdon had been mystified by Katherine's abrupt antics in the taxi.†   (source)
  • Even though it was rude and abrupt, I pulled her out of the room and down the hall.†   (source)
  • An abrupt calm settled through the Temple Room.†   (source)
  • In the abrupt silence, Paul heard the wind devils playing overhead — the front of the storm.†   (source)
  • Harry stood quite still, all his senses vibrating, taking in the abrupt return to normality.†   (source)
  • Jessica felt a constriction at her heart, an abrupt fear for Paul.†   (source)
  • In the abrupt stillness, Peter Solomon seemed to have been jolted from his trance.†   (source)
  • The troop stopped, and Paul sensed abrupt tension.†   (source)
  • They reached the end of the lit section of corridor, and the passageway took an abrupt left.†   (source)
  • Paul nodded, fighting an abrupt reluctance to move.†   (source)
  • The vortex began as an abrupt billowing that rattled the entire ship.†   (source)
  • His head lolled forward, and there was an abrupt, panting silence to the scene.†   (source)
  • The abrupt flicker-tightening of skin pressure told of a wide-area shield being activated.†   (source)
  • Into the abrupt silence, he stepped back two paces, raised the key and shouted.†   (source)
  • In an abrupt and profound silence, Chani turned, stared at Paul.†   (source)
  • Because that was where civilization came to an abrupt, screeching halt.†   (source)
  • She gave an abrupt, choked laugh, the sound of water falling over cold rocks.†   (source)
  • They were thrown forward a little when the Hudson came to an abrupt stop.†   (source)
  • 'And?' said Marie, disturbed by her husband's abrupt silence.†   (source)
  • It was so abrupt, I didn't know how to respond.†   (source)
  • A silence fell on the scene, more abrupt than the earlier silence.†   (source)
  • Her face suddenly twisted into an expression of fury, as abrupt and surprising as a tornado funnel.†   (source)
  • The path from Rowan's campus came to an abrupt end once it reached the threshold of the gates.†   (source)
  • The abrupt shift of topic left Brienne bewildered.†   (source)
  • She nodded, a short, abrupt movement, then continued on her way.†   (source)
  • He shuddered abruptly, an abrupt twisting of his back.†   (source)
  • All conversation had come to an abrupt halt, so Jeb's words were clear for everyone to hear.†   (source)
  • He tossed it; it landed with an abrupt thump.†   (source)
  • And here there were no strained faces, or darting eyes, no abrupt movements that signified alarm.†   (source)
  • Jean's eyebrows rose slightly at her friend's abrupt ending to the evening.†   (source)
  • The change in Artkin's manner had an abrupt effect on the boy.†   (source)
  • The abrupt wave of deja vu was so strong it nearly woke me up.†   (source)
  • An abrupt panic, like a warning premonition, makes it impossible for me to speak for a long moment.†   (source)
  • Bourne leaned forward, the interruption abrupt.†   (source)
  • There was an abrupt click, and David, perspiring, hung up the phone.†   (source)
  • I'm searching in vain for an elephant when my eyes come to an abrupt stop on a woman.†   (source)
  • The chaplain weighed the next silence heavily and then shattered it with an abrupt question.†   (source)
  • The road he ran on came to an abrupt dead end at the town wall.†   (source)
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