Word Direct Answers

What does "acute" mean?

Acute: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.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.
  2. 3.High, or shrill, in respect to some other sound; -- opposed to grave or low; as, an acute tone or accent.
  3. 4.(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. See Subtile.
  4. 5.To give an acute sound to; as, he acutes his rising inflection too much. [R.] Walker.

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