/əˈkjuːt/, /əˈkjut/
OriginFrom Late Middle English acute (“of a disease or fever: starting suddenly and lasting for a short time; of a humour: irritating, sharp”), from Latin acūta, from acūtus (“sharp, sharpened”), perfect passive participle of acuō (“to make pointed, sharpen, whet”), from acus (“needle, pin”). The word is cognate to ague (“acute, intermittent fever”).
As regards the noun, which is derived from the verb, compare Middle English acūte (“severe but short-lived fever; of blood: corrosiveness, sharpness; musical note of high pitch”).
- Brief, quick, short.
“It was an acute event.”
“Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. ”
- High or shrill.
“an acute accent or tone”
“The nimble Fly's Wings quicker were / Than those of her Competitor [a bee], / As may by this appear; / For an acuter Tone they made, / And in a ſharper Key they play'd, / (Which made the matter clear.”
“The acuteness of sound in stringed instruments depends on three circumstances—length, thickness, and tension. The shorter, smaller, and tighter a string, the more acute the sound. […] In the violin, w”
- Intense; sensitive; sharp.
“She had an acute sense of honour”
“Eagles have very acute vision.”
“Miss Darcy was tall, and on a larger scale than Elizabeth; and, though little more than sixteen, her figure was formed, and her appearance womanly and graceful. She was less handsome than her brother;”
- Urgent.
“His need for medical attention was acute.”
“[…] Ahab rapidly ordered the ship's course to be slightly altered, and the sail to be shortened. The acute policy dictating these movements was sufficiently vindicated at daybreak, by the sight of a l”
- With the sides meeting directly to form an acute angle (at an apex or base).
“204. Eremophila abietina […] Corolla 23–35 mm long, cream or very pale lilac, lobes faintly metallic bluish green or lilac, tube occasionally brownish, prominently purple spotted; outer and inner surf”
- Less than 90 degrees.
“The teacher pointed out the acute angle.”
“Chlorophosphuret of nitrogen (at ordinary temperatures) is a solid crystalline body. […] The form of the crystals, as obtained by sublimation, is that of a rhomboid, of which the obtuse angle measures”
- Having all three interior angles measuring less than 90 degrees.
“an acute triangle”
“In order to be an acute triangle, all three angles of a triangle must be less than 90°. These triangles can have very prickly personalities. So, if you want to create images of porcupines, rugged moun”
- historicalOf an accent or tone: generally higher than others.
“Let this [the word alalal] be ſpoken as an Engliſh word, with the ſtrong accent on either ſyllable, or, on each, in repeating the word; and, no change of articulation diſturbing the ear, it will be ab”
- datedSharp, produced in the front of the mouth. (See Grave and acute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia)
- Of an abnormal condition of recent or sudden onset, in contrast to delayed onset; this sense does not imply severity, unlike the common usage.
“He dropped dead of an acute illness.”
“Of particular relevance to the ICU [intensive care unit] setting is ketorolac, a NSAID [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug] that is being increasingly used for pain control in order to avoid problem”
- Of a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic condition; this sense also does not imply severity.
“The acute symptoms resolved promptly.”
“Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propens”
- postpositionalOf a letter of the alphabet, having an acute accent.
“The last letter of ‘café’ is ‘e’ acute.”
“A more conservative approach, particularly if your author is a skilled computer user, would be to replace the problem characters with simple words or codes that are guaranteed to transfer successfully”
“Commonly used European accents are available as below: / á Á a acute / […] / é É e acute / […] / í Í i acute / […] / ó Ó o acute / […] / ú Ú u acute”
- informalA person who has the acute form of a disorder, such as schizophrenia.
“Anne Marie had been assigned a ‘constant supervision’ status. […] Always avoiding the unrest of the television lounge, she would sometimes join some of the older ‘acutes’ who sat isolated in metal cha”
- historicalAn accent or tone higher than others.
“[I]t would be strange if we wer to recite Homer, raising our voices on the acutes, lowering them on the graves, and managing the circumflexes as well as we could, yet to recite Virgil without any of t”
“There would be no sense in our assuming that even an independent circumflex after an acute might be raised in pitch for the sake of clearer distinction from that acute; for it is sufficiently distingu”
- An acute accent (´).
“The word ‘cafe’ often has an acute over the ‘e’.”
“The number of Notes in this Table, without either acute or grave marks (´ or `), is 75. Of those bearing one acute mark (´) it is 74, of those with two acutes (´´) 70, with three acutes (´´´ or ´³) 51”
“The five vowels marked with acutes over them, it is probable, were first contrived to assist the ignorant monks in reading the church service, that by this means they might arrive to a proper and sett”
- transitiveTo give an acute sound to.
“He acutes his rising inflection too much.”
“Polyſyllables having their Penultima long by poſition are acuted; as Camíllus: but having it long by nature and the last ſhort, they are circumflected; as, Românus, amâre: except the Compounds of ſit,”
“This word ωροπαροξύνον has been generally underſtood, before Dr. G[ally] undertook to explain it otherwiſe, to ſignify "acuting the antepenultima."”
- archaic, transitiveTo make acute; to sharpen, to whet.
“[A]n old Farmer […] uſed, when fuddled over Night, to walk naked, or only in his Shirt, until he had cooled himſelf throughly, […] This Courſe may not be improperly call'd a Balenum Aerium, and may be”
“It had been over a week that I had not been over to visit my most favorable place. Since I was allowed a rare opening that jaggled an intense curiosity, it acuted my senses with great anticipation tha”
Formsacuter(comparative) · more acute(comparative) · acutest(superlative) · most acute(superlative) · acutes(plural) · acutes(present, singular, third-person) · acuting(participle, present) · acuted(participle, past) · acuted(past)