ACUTE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Acute

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/əkjˈut/ Listen

adjective

Acute adj.

Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point; pointed; opposed to blunt or obtuse; as, an acute angle; an acute leaf.

Having nice discernment; perceiving or using minute distinctions; penetrating; clever; shrewd; opposed to dull or stupid; as, an acute observer; acute remarks, or reasoning.

Having nice or quick sensibility; susceptible to slight impressions; acting keenly on the senses; sharp; keen; intense; as, a man of acute eyesight, hearing, or feeling; acute pain or pleasure.

High, or shrill, in respect to some other sound; opposed to grave or low; as, an acute tone or accent.

(Med.) Attended with symptoms of some degree of severity, and coming speedily to a crisis; opposed to chronic; as, an acute disease.

Acute angle (Geom.), an angle less than a right angle.

Synonyms: Subtile; ingenious; sharp; keen; penetrating; sagacious; sharp-witted; shrewd; discerning; discriminating. See Subtile.

verb

Acute v. t. To give an acute sound to; as, he acutes his rising inflection too much. (R.)

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Etymology of 'Acute'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Acute" Quotes from Famous Books

... really a devil of a fellow, John Armitage! So much knowledge! So acute an intellect! You are too wise to throw ...

— The Port of Missing Men • Meredith Nicholson

... proceeding along the arroyo about 200 m.—630 ft.—to the south ere it turns across. The main military line of travel intersects there-about the one to the Pecos River, and thence, striking almost due south, forms a very acute angle with the creek. In this angle ledges of rock protrude, sheltered by a fine group of cedar-shrubs; and here, in what may be termed a snug little corner, the rocks bear ...

— Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos • Adolphus Bandelier

... listened greedily. Though his sight had long since faded, his hearing was still acute, and the slightest sound penetrated to the glimmering intelligence which yet abode behind the withered forehead, but which no longer gazed forth upon the things of the world. Ah! that was Sit-cum-to-ha, shrilly anathematizing the dogs as she cuffed ...

— Children of the Frost • Jack London

... fields raise the level of human attainments and achievements. They swiftly seize upon and appreciate the specific achievements of the race behind them; they are profoundly sensitive to the aspirations of their time and to the deep-lying currents of their age; they are suggestible in an acute degree, through heightened interest, to certain ideas or truths or principles which they synthesise by such leaps of insight that slow-footed logic seems to be transcended. Then these unifying and intensifying experiences to which ...

— Spiritual Reformers in the 16th & 17th Centuries • Rufus M. Jones

... formed by two gable ends, notched, and having their windows adorned with heavy architectural ornaments. They joined each other at right angles; and a half circular tower, which contained the entrance and the staircase, occupied the point of junction, and rounded the acute angle. One of other two sides of the little court, in which there was just sufficient room to turn a carriage, was occupied by some low buildings answering the purpose of offices; the other, by a parapet surrounded by ...

— Chronicles of the Canongate • Sir Walter Scott

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