“There seemed no reason, for all his brusquerie, why I should not tell him this.”

“There was a brusquerie in her manner that would not have been there had there been any one else present.”

“But his abruptness and brusquerie offer a different indication.”

“The default mode of interaction with strangers often seems to be brusqueness to the point of derision.”

“She attempted to bridge the gulf that her brusqueness had created and offered my friend a cigarette.”

“Beneath all his stubborn brusqueness, he was a solid friend and a loving father and husband.”

“On further acquaintance I concluded that Mr. Spear's bruskness was assumed, and that beneath the tough husk there beats a very tender heart.”