brusqueness

He added that he regretted his brusqueness with her and other residents but needed rapid action to address fire risks and other dangers.

She picked up to be told with stunning brusqueness that Mara, their 19-year-old daughter, had been killed in a car accident.

The choice reflected Hern’s personality: direct, often to the point of brusqueness, especially when it came to the things he cared about most.

Standing in front of a fireplace and Christmas decorations in the White House’s State Dining Room, he softened his occasional brusqueness with a forced quarter-smile, appearing authoritative but not overbearing.

Leigh, another of Seattle’s great actors, is a more distant presence here, with an aloof brusqueness that could be an 18-year-old’s lashing out or a 40-something’s entrenched protective mechanism.