Adjacent Words

brusque definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: marked by rude or peremptory shortness; "try to cultivate a less brusque manner"; "a curt reply"; "the salesgirl was very short with him" [syn: brusque, brusk, curt, short]

Merriam Webster's

also brusk adjective Etymology: French brusque, from Italian brusco, from Medieval Latin bruscus butcher's-broom (plant with bristly twigs) Date: 1651 1. markedly short and abrupt 2. blunt in manner or speech often to the point of ungracious harshness Synonyms: see bluff • brusquely adverb • brusqueness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. abrupt or offhand in manner or speech. Derivatives: brusquely adv. brusqueness n. brusquerie n. Etymology: F f. It. brusco sour

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Brusque Brusque, a. [F. brusque, from It. brusco brusque, tart, sour, perh. fr. L. (vitis) labrusca wild (vine); or cf. OHG. bruttisc grim, fr. brutti terror.] Rough and prompt in manner; blunt; abrupt; bluff; as, a brusque man; a brusque style.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe a person or their behaviour as brusque, you mean that they deal with things, or say things, quickly and shortly, so that they seem to be rude. The doctors are brusque and busy... They received a characteristically brusque reply from him. = abrupt ADJ • brusquely 'It's only a sprain,' Paula said brusquely. ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a.; (also brusk) Rude, rough, blunt, unceremonious, abrupt, bluff, gruff, ungentle, uncivil, ungracious, bearish, discourteous, uncourteous, impolite.

Moby Thesaurus

Spartan, abbreviated, abridged, abrupt, aggressive, aposiopestic, artless, bearish, beastly, bluff, blunt, brash, brief, broad, candid, cavalier, churlish, clipped, close, close-tongued, closemouthed, compact, compendious, compressed, concise, condensed, contracted, crisp, crusty, curt, cut, direct, discourteous, docked, downright, dumb, economical of words, elliptic, epigrammatic, explicit, forthright, frank, frankhearted, free, free-speaking, free-spoken, free-tongued, genuine, gnomic, gruff, harsh, heart-to-heart, ill-mannered, impolite, indisposed to talk, ingenuous, laconic, mum, mute, open, openhearted, outspoken, overbearing, pithy, plain, plain-spoken, pointed, pruned, quiet, reserved, rough, round, rude, sententious, severe, sharp, short, short and sweet, shortened, silent, sincere, snippety, snippy, snug, sparing of words, speechless, straight, straight-out, straightforward, succinct, summary, surly, synopsized, taciturn, terse, tight, tight-lipped, to the point, tongue-tied, transparent, truculent, truncated, unchecked, uncivil, unconstrained, unequivocal, ungracious, unguarded, unloquacious, unmannerly, unreserved, unrestrained, untalkative, word-bound, wordless