different between downright vs abrupt

English

Etymology

From Middle English dounright, dounri?t, equivalent to down- +? right.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?da?n??a?t/

Adjective

downright (comparative more downright, superlative most downright)

1. (obsolete) Directed vertically; coming straight down.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act I, Scene 1,^[1]

     Lord Stafford’s father, Duke of Buckingham,

     Is either slain or wounded dangerously;

     I cleft his beaver with a downright blow:

   • 1611, John Donne, An Anatomy of the World, London: Samuel Macham,^[2]

     We thinke the heavens enjoy their Sphericall

     Their round proportion embracing all.

     But yet their various and perplexed course,

     Observ’d in divers ages doth enforce

     Men to finde out so many Eccentrique parts,

     Such divers downe-right lines, such overthwarts,

     As disproportion that pure forme. […]

2. Directly to the point; plain

   Synonyms: unambiguous, unevasive

   • 1728, Daniel Defoe, A System of Magick, Chapter 3, p. 314,^[3]

     […] three Nights together he dreamt that he saw a Neighbouring Gentleman kissing his Mistress, and in downright English, lying with her.

   • 1907, George Witton, Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant’s Bushveldt Carbineers, Chapter 5,^[4]

     There were miners from Klondyke, hunters from the backwoods, troopers from the Northwest Frontier Police, and included were some of the “hardest cases” that the land of the maple leaf ever produced; these were past-masters in the use of unique expletives, and for downright and original profanity it would hardly be possible to find their equal.

   • 1920, Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi, Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Translator’s Note,^[5]

     English words and thought seem too downright a medium into which to render these evanescent, half-expressed sentences and poems—vague as the misty mountain scenery of her country, with no pronouns at all, and without verb inflections.

3. Using plain direct language; accustomed to express opinions directly and bluntly; blunt.
   • 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan & T. Cadell, Volume 1, Book 2, Chapter 2, p. 396,^[6]

     It bears the evident marks of having originally been, what the honest and downright Doctor Douglass assures us it was, a scheme of fraudulent debtors to cheat their creditors.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume 1, Chapter 4,^[7]

     There is an openness, a quickness, almost a bluntness in Mr. Weston, which every body likes in him, because there is so much good-humour with it—but that would not do to be copied. Neither would Mr. Knightley’s downright, decided, commanding sort of manner, though it suits him very well; his figure, and look, and situation in life seem to allow it; but if any young man were to set about copying him, he would not be sufferable.

   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 3,^[8]

     The twisted trees and high tossed driftwood hinted that Skedans could be as thoroughly fierce as she was calm. She was downright about everything.

4. Complete; absolute

   Synonym: utter

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, 1650, Book I, Chapter 5, p. 13,^[9]

     For although in that ancient and diffused adoration of Idols, unto the Priests and subtiler heads, the worship perhaps might be symbolicall, and as those Images some way related unto their deities; yet was the Idolatry direct and down-right in the people […] who may be made beleeve that any thing is God […] .

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 3, Book 15, Chapter 3, p. 132,^[10]

     ‘I see his Design,’ said she, ‘for he made downright Love to me Yesterday Morning; but as I am resolved never to admit it […] ’

   • 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, London: Seeley, 1903, Chapter 1,^[11]

     The weather is raw and boisterous in winter, shifty and ungenial in summer, and a downright meteorological purgatory in the spring.

Synonyms

• right-down
• evendown

Derived terms

• downrightness

Adverb

downright (not comparable)

1. Really; actually; quite

   Synonyms: thoroughly, utterly

   He wasn’t just cool to me, he was downright rude.

   • 1716, Joseph Addison, The Drummer; or, The Haunted House, London: Jacob Tonson, Act I, Scene 1, p. 8,^[12]

     Familiar! Madam, in Troth he’s down-right rude.

   • 1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, Volume 6, Letter 31, p. 208,^[13]

     And, dear Lady G. he downright kissed me—My lip; and not my cheek—and in so fervent a way—

2. (obsolete) Straight down; perpendicularly.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 36,^[14]

     The three mates quailed before his strong, sustained, and mystic aspect. Stubb and Flask looked sideways from him; the honest eye of Starbuck fell downright.

3. (obsolete) Plainly, unambiguously; directly.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III, Scene 4,^[15]

     Rosalind. Not true in love?

     Celia. Yes, when he is in; but I think he is not in.

     Rosalind. You have heard him swear downright he was.

   • 1741, Samuel Richardson, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, London: C. Rivington & J. Osborn, Volume 1, Letter 31, p. 146,^[16]

     Well, ’tis not my Business to quarrel with her downright.

4. (obsolete) Without delay; at once.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, John Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit, London: John Morphew, Chapter 2, p. 14,^[17]

     The reading of this Paper put Mrs. Bull in such a Passion, that she fell downright into a Fit, and they were forc’d to give her a good quantity of the Spirit of Hartshorn before she recover’d.

Synonyms

• right-down

Usage notes

"Downright" is used to intensify or emphasize the following adjective, which usually refers to some negative quality.

Translations

See also

• outright

Anagrams

• right-down

English

Etymology

First attested in 1583. Borrowed from Latin abruptus (“broken off”), perfect passive participle of abrump? (“break off”), formed from ab (“from, away from”) + rump? (“to break”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?.b??pt/, /æ?b??pt/
• Rhymes: -?pt

Adjective

abrupt (comparative more abrupt or abrupter, superlative most abrupt or abruptest)

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

   Synonyms: brusque, rude, uncivil, impolite
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.]

   • 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.]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of en to this entry?)

Synonyms

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

Translations

Verb

abrupt (third-person singular simple present 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.]
   • 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici

     Till death abrupts them.

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

Translations

Noun

abrupt (plural abrupts)

1. (poetic) Something which is abrupt; an abyss. [First attested in the mid 17th century.]

Translations

References

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin abruptus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.b?ypt/

Adjective

abrupt (feminine singular abrupte, masculine plural abrupts, feminine plural abruptes)

1. Extremely steep, near vertical.
2. Curt and abrupt.
3. Done or said forwardly and without caution to avoid shocking.

Derived terms

• abruptement

Further reading

• “abrupt” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin abruptus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

abrupt (comparative abrupter, superlative am abruptesten)

1. abrupt, suddenly
2. jerkingly

Declension

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin abruptus (“broken off”), perfect passive participle of abrump? (“break off”), formed from ab (“from, away from”) + rump? (“to break”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?br?pt/
• Rhymes: -?pt
• Hyphenation: ab?rupt

Adjective

abrupt (neuter singular abrupt, definite singular and plural abrupte, comparative mer abrupt, superlative mest abrupt)

1. abrupt (having sudden transitions from one subject or state to another; unconnected; disjointed)

   abrupte setninger

   abrupt sentences

   abrupt tale

   abrupt speech

Synonyms

• plutselig (“suddenly”)
• brå (“abrupt”)

Derived terms

• abrupthet (“abruptness”)

References

• “abrupt” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “abrupt” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “abrupt” in Store norske leksikon

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French abrupt, Latin abruptus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?brupt/

Adjective

abrupt m or n (feminine singular abrupt?, masculine plural abrup?i, feminine and neuter plural abrupte)

1. abrupt
2. extremely steep, near vertical

Declension

References

Swedish

Pronunciation

Adjective

abrupt

1. abrupt, sudden

Declension

Adverb

abrupt

1. suddenly

Synonyms

• plötsligt