In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
ACUTE
acute
(adjective) having or experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe course; “acute appendicitis”; “the acute phase of the illness”; “acute patients”
acute
(adjective) of critical importance and consequence; “an acute (or critical) lack of research funds”
acute, intense
(adjective) extremely sharp or severe; “acute pain”; “felt acute annoyance”; “intense itching and burning”
acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp
(adjective) having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions; “an acute observer of politics and politicians”; “incisive comments”; “icy knifelike reasoning”; “as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang”; “penetrating insight”; “frequent penetrative observations”
acuate, acute, sharp, needlelike
(adjective) ending in a sharp point
acute
(adjective) of an angle; less than 90 degrees
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
acute (comparative acuter or more acute, superlative acutest or most acute)
Brief, quick, short.
Synonyms: fast, rapid
Antonyms: leisurely, slow
High or shrill.
Antonym: grave
Intense, sensitive, sharp.
Synonyms: keen, powerful, strong
Antonyms: dull, obtuse, slow, witless
Urgent.
Synonyms: emergent, pressing, sudden
(botany) With the sides meeting directly to form an acute angle (at an apex or base).
Antonym: obtuse
(geometry) Of an angle: less than 90 degrees.
Antonym: obtuse
(geometry) Of a triangle: having all three interior angles measuring less than 90 degrees.
Synonym: acute-angled
Antonyms: obtuse, obtuse-angled
(linguistics, chiefly, historical) Of an accent or tone: generally higher than others.
(medicine) Of an abnormal condition of recent or sudden onset, in contrast to delayed onset; this sense does not imply severity, unlike the common usage.
(medicine) Of a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic condition; this sense also does not imply severity.
Antonym: chronic
(orthography) After a letter of the alphabet: having an acute accent.
Noun
acute (plural acutes)
(medicine) A person who has the acute form of a disorder, such as schizophrenia.
(linguistics, chiefly, historical) An accent or tone higher than others.
Antonym: grave
(orthography) An acute accent (´).
Verb
acute (third-person singular simple present acutes, present participle acuting, simple past and past participle acuted)
(transitive, phonetics) To give an acute sound to.
(transitive, archaic) To make acute; to sharpen, to whet.
Anagrams
• AUTEC, Ceuta
Source: Wiktionary
A*cute", a. Etym: [L. acutus, p. p. of acuere to sharpen, fr. a root ak to be sharp. Cf. Ague, Cute, Edge.]
1. Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point; pointed; -- opposed to blunt or obtuse; as, an acute angle; an acute leaf.
2. Having nice discernment; perceiving or using minute distinctions; penetrating; clever; shrewd; -- opposed to Ant: dull or Ant: stupid; as, an acute observer; acute remarks, or reasoning.
3. 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.
4. High, or shrill, in respect to some other sound; -- opposed to grave or low; as, an acute tone or accent.
5. (Med.)
Definition: 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.
Syn.
– Subtile; ingenious; sharp; keen; penetrating; sagacious; sharp- witted; shrewd; discerning; discriminating. See Subtile.
A*cute", v. t.
Definition: To give an acute sound to; as, he acutes his rising inflection too much. [R.] Walker.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
27 April 2024
GREAT
(adjective) remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect; “a great crisis”; “had a great stake in the outcome”
Coffee Trivia
