Literary notes about ABRUPT (AI summary)
In literature, the term "abrupt" is often employed to signal sudden shifts or breaks in narrative flow, dialogue, or description. It can capture a jarring interruption in thought or speech—as when a character’s name appears without warning [1] or when dialogue cuts short, leaving conversations feeling halting and forceful [2, 3]. Authors also use it to illustrate rapid movements or unforeseen actions that alter a scene's momentum [4, 5, 6], while in descriptive passages it emphasizes the rugged, striking features of natural landscapes [7, 8, 9]. In this way, "abrupt" imbues the text with immediacy and unpredictability, heightening the reader’s sense of dislocation or surprise [10, 11, 12, 13].
- i. 11 sq., in which latter passage the introduction of his own name is equally abrupt.
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon by J. B. Lightfoot - I have been too abrupt in communicating the news; it has excited you beyond your strength.”
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - Make your mind easy,” said he in abrupt sentences while sealing his letter.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - From my inner tumult, an abrupt determination arose to hurl myself on the railroad tracks.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - Amazed at this abrupt departure, I rose hastily from my knees.
— from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. Lewis - His step was angry and with an angry abrupt gesture he thrust the stick back into Stephen’s hand.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - To the South, against a clearer sky, were the abrupt forms of the mountains, scattered over half of the horizon.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific by Bronislaw Malinowski - the hills of the creek are generally abrupt and rocky.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - the river hills are about 250 feet high and generally abrupt and craggey in many places faced with a perpendicular and solid rock.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - No more light was to be hoped for, henceforth, except the lightning of guns, no further encounter except the abrupt and rapid apparition of death.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - Then, with an abrupt change of manner: “Hands up—or I shoot!”
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - She made an abrupt effort to disengage herself and the tips of her fingers touched her husband's nose.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - The tall hat and long frock coat were black; the face, in an abrupt shadow, was almost as dark.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton
