Acute (medicine)
WordNet
adjective
(1) Having or experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe course
"Acute appendicitis"
"The acute phase of the illness"
"Acute patients"
(2) Of critical importance and consequence
"An acute (or critical) lack of research funds"
(3) Extremely sharp or intense
"Acute pain"
"Felt acute annoyance"
"Intense itching and burning"
(4) 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"
(5) Ending in a sharp point
(6) Of an angle; less than 90 degrees
noun
(7) A mark (') placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From , perfect passive participle of .
Adjective
- Urgent.
- His need for medical attention was acute.
- sensitive
- She had an acute sense of honor.
- Eagles have very acute vision.
- Short, quick.
- It was an acute event.
- Of an angle, fewer than 90 degrees.
- Of a triangle, acute-angled.
- With the sides meeting directly to form a pointed acute angle at the apex, base, or both.
- 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 a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic condition; this sense also does not imply severity.
- The acute symptoms resolved promptly.
- Having an acute accent.
- The last letter of "café" is 'e' acute.
Synonyms
pressing, urgent, emergent, sudden intense, powerful, strong, sharp, keen fast, rapid acute-angled obtuseAntonyms
dull, witless, obtuse, slow obtuse slow, leisurely obtuse, obtuse-angled chronicNoun
- An acute accent.
- The word "cafe" often has an acute over the "e".
Verb
- To give an acute sound to.
- He acutes his rising inflection too much.
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