3 meanings
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1 —as in:
acute pain
Definition
sharp (a severely negative event) — often with a rapid onset- She felt an acute pain in her neck.
acute = sharp (a severely negative event) — often with a rapid onset
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- She had acute appendicitis.
- I felt acute annoyance.
- We're facing an acute lack of research funds.
- He suffers acutely on the way.Erich Maria Remarque -- All Quiet on the Western Front
- There was something pathetic in his concentration, as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more.F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby
- I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest, for I felt that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer than I could help, that it often happened that after death faces become softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty, that this was especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or prolonged suffering.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- I missed my father, more acutely than I ever had before.Kenneth Oppel -- Airborn
- It was at this minute that the position of Countess Andrenyi became acute, and her husband immediately took steps to alter the passport.Agatha Christie -- Murder On The Orient Express
- John's diagnosis was an acute congestion of the stomach.Laura Esquivel -- Like Water for Chocolate
acute = very bad
acute = sharp (a severely negative event) — often with a rapid onset
acute = sharp (a severely negative event) — often with a rapid onset
acutely = severely
acute = severely negative
acute = severe (very bad)
acutely = severely
acute = rapidly and severely negative
acute = very bad
2 —as in:
acute vision
Definition
sharp (highly perceptive in some area or mentally sharp)(often with a connotation that resulting awareness is painful)
- Beavers have an acute sense of smell.
acute = sharp (highly perceptive or intelligent)
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- In some ways she was far more acute than Winston, and far less susceptible to Party propaganda.George Orwell -- 1984
- Lucy is so sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other people do.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin.Edgar Allan Poe -- The Fall of the House of Usher
- he was acutely aware of what good publicity could do for him and his practice.Nicholas Sparks -- Nights in Rodanthe
- They were, nonetheless, acutely aware of the special role that the city was destined to play in the world's memory.John Hersey -- Hiroshima
- As the darkness surrounded us, I was acutely aware of how close we were walking together, and I wondered whether she felt the same.Nicholas Sparks -- Dear John
- As always, she was acutely conscious of the fact that another day had passed, meaning one less day left with Will.Nicholas Sparks -- The Last Song
- He was suddenly acutely conscious of the actions of other people.Robert Cormier -- I Am the Cheese
- ...her senses were more acute,Laura Esquivel -- Like Water for Chocolate
acute = intelligent (sharp or perceptive)
acutely = sharply (with more awareness)
acute = highly perceptive
acutely = very (highly perceptive of)
acutely = in a manner showing sharp perception
acutely = highly or very sharply
acutely = highly (with a connotation that resulting awareness is painful)
acutely = in a manner showing perception
acute = perceptive (working very well)
3 —as in:
an acute angle
Definition
sharp; or an angle measuring between 0 and 90 degrees- Roofs at acute angles are common in snow country.
acute angles = sharp; or an angle measuring between 0 and 90 degrees
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Those who are farsighted have an increased risk of acute angle-closure glaucoma because of narrow angles caused by shallow anterior chambers.
- She kept her foot permanently on the accelerator, and took every corner at an acute angle.Daphne du Maurier -- Rebecca
- Two long panes of chest-high, dirty, gray-tinted Plexiglas lean against each other at an acute angle, held up on the other side by the wooden wall.John Green -- Paper Towns
- All I saw was the pole, bent at an acute angle.Edward Bloor -- Tangerine
- On the opposite wall near the acute angle stood a small plain wooden chest of drawers looking, as it were, lost in a desert.Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- Crime and Punishment
- O'Dell leaned back at an acute angle and shoveled a little sugar in.Homer Hickam -- October Sky
- He has just cut off the end of the pole at an acute angle to make it into a spear.Neal Stephenson -- Snow Crash
- Near the same tree two more bundles of acute angles sat with their legs drawn up.Joseph Conrad -- Heart of Darkness
- I was all bony elbows and acute angles, like a jigsaw puzzle piece that can only go in the middle, waiting for the others to fit around it to make it whole.Sarah Dessen -- That Summer
acute angle = sharp