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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

acute.

Brief, quick, short.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/əˈkjuːt/Received-Pronunciation/əˈkjut/General-American
  1. Brief, quick, short.

    It was an acute event.
  2. High or shrill.

    an acute accent or tone
  3. Intense; sensitive; sharp.

    She had an acute sense of honour
    Eagles have very acute vision.
  4. Urgent.

    His need for medical attention was acute.
  5. With the sides meeting directly to form an acute angle (at an apex or base).

  6. Less than 90 degrees.

    The teacher pointed out the acute angle.
  7. Having all three interior angles measuring less than 90 degrees.

    an acute triangle
  8. Of an accent or tone: generally higher than others.

    historical
  9. Sharp, produced in the front of the mouth. (See Grave and acute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia )

    dated
  10. 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.
  11. Of a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic condition; this sense also does not imply severity.

    The acute symptoms resolved promptly.
  12. Of a letter of the alphabet, having an acute accent.

    postpositional
    The last letter of ‘café’ is ‘e’ acute.
Where this word comes from

From 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”).

noun/əˈkjuːt/Received-Pronunciation/əˈkjut/General-American
  1. A person who has the acute form of a disorder, such as schizophrenia.

    informal
  2. An accent or tone higher than others.

    historical
  3. An acute accent (´).

    The word ‘cafe’ often has an acute over the ‘e’.
Where this word comes from

From 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”).

verb/əˈkjuːt/Received-Pronunciation/əˈkjut/General-American
  1. To give an acute sound to.

    transitive
    He acutes his rising inflection too much.
  2. To make acute; to sharpen, to whet.

    archaic · transitive
Where this word comes from

From 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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.