If you ask a salesperson for help finding something and all you get in response is a brusque "Everything's out on the shelves," you'll probably take your business elsewhere. A brusque manner of speaking is unfriendly, rude, and very brief.

Brush and brusque are not related, but they sound similar––when someone is brusque, you often feel that they are trying to give you the "brush off." Near synonyms for brusque are curt, short, and gruff. Brusque (pronounced "brusk") was borrowed from the French word meaning "lively, fierce," from Italian brusco "coarse, rough."

Definitions of brusque

adj marked by rude or peremptory shortness

“try to cultivate a less brusque manner”
brusk, curt, short
showing no courtesy; rude

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