acute
Noun pluralacutes
Pluralacutes
- 1Of a disease or condition: coming on suddenly and lasting a relatively short time, as opposed to chronic; also used of the care given for it (acute care).
The patient was admitted with acute appendicitis that had developed overnight.
Acute bronchitis usually clears up in a few weeks, unlike the chronic kind.
UsageDoctors use it for timing, not seriousness: a mild illness can be acute. The opposite is chronic.
Oppositechronic
Note
Clinicians use the word for timing, not gravity. Acute renal failure, as in G. J. Kaloyanides's 1995 chapter "Drug-induced Acute Renal Failure", tells how suddenly the kidneys failed, not how badly. A mild condition of sudden onset is still acute in this sense. The contrast is with chronic conditions, which persist over a long time.
- 2Intense and sharp, or showing keen sensitivity in perception or feeling.
Her acute hearing let her detect the faint hum of the refrigerator.
He suffered acute embarrassment when his mistake was read aloud.
UsageCommon with senses and feelings: an acute sense of smell, acute pain, acute embarrassment.
Similarkeen, sharp, strong, powerful
Note
This is sharpness moved from the blade to the senses and feelings. It covers keen perception (acute vision, acute hearing) and strong feeling (an acute sense of honor). Its fitting opposite is obtuse, the same pair geometry uses for small and wide angles. It also takes -er and -est: Constance Garnett's Dostoevsky has a quarrel "at its acutest stage."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Geometry uses acute and obtuse for angles smaller and larger than a right angle, respectively, with obtuse angles also smaller than a straight angle. en.wikipedia.org
- Constance Garnett's translation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov describes a quarrel using the exact words "at its acutest stage"; this is narration. gutenberg.org
- 3Requiring immediate attention; pressing and urgent.
The region is experiencing an acute crisis as food supplies dwindle.
Hospitals reported an acute lack of trained nurses this winter.
UsageMost often with words like shortage, need or crisis: an acute shortage of housing.
- 4Brief and quick, lasting or taking place over only a short time.
Researchers compared acute exposure to the pesticide with years of low-level contact on the same farms.
The study looked at acute stress, the kind that lasts for minutes rather than months.
Similarrapid
Note
English borrowed the word in Late Middle English for a fever that started suddenly and ran a short course. The brief sense is now at home in exposure research. Philip J. Bushnell (2013) sets acute exposure to solvent vapors against long-term effects. For the clinical version, see the short-lived medical sense.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The word entered English in Late Middle English with a medical meaning involving sudden onset and short duration. en.wiktionary.org
- Philip J. Bushnell published the referenced article in 2013. biblioteca.universum.unam.mx
- Bushnell's passage contrasts acute exposure to solvent vapors with long-term effects. en.wiktionary.org
- 5Of an angle: less than 90 degrees; of a triangle: having all three angles less than 90 degrees.
The two streets meet at an acute angle, forming a narrow wedge of land.
Draw an acute angle and then measure it with a protractor.
Oppositeobtuse
Note
Geometry's narrow angle is paired with obtuse, its wide partner. Once the angle is clear from context, the noun can drop away. J. H. Gladstone, describing a rhomboid crystal in 1850, gives the obtuse angle as 131° or 132° and "the acute" as 48° or 49°. A right angle, at exactly 90 degrees, is neither. The image of a needle's point is never far away: the word goes back to Latin acus, needle.
- 6Of a leaf, petal, or similar part: tapering so the sides meet directly in a narrow point at the apex or base.
Botanists described the leaf as acute, its margins converging to a fine tip.
The sepals are acute, narrowing sharply where they join the stem.
Similarpointed
Oppositeobtuse
Note
Plant descriptions use the geometry of the angle sense as shorthand for the shape of a tip. The prose is often clipped and verbless. R. J. Chinnock's 2007 treatment of the Myoporaceae simply writes "lobes acute" among notes on color and hairiness. The contrasting terms are obtuse, for a blunt angle, and subacute, for one only slightly pointed. The word can describe either end of the organ, apex or base.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- The botanical description corresponds to an acute geometrical angle. plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
- Chinnock writes "lobes acute" alongside descriptions of colour and hairiness. en.wiktionary.org
- Obtuse describes a blunt angle in botanical descriptions. plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
- Subacute describes a somewhat pointed form. aos.org
- Acute can describe an organ's apex or base. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A small accent mark written as an upward-slanting stroke (´) and placed above a letter.
In Spanish, an acute over a vowel often marks the stressed syllable.
The typesetter added an acute to distinguish the two words.
UsageYou write an acute over a letter; to name the letter itself, say e acute.
Oppositegrave
Note
The stroke has served outside spelling too. John Farey's 1817 table of musical intervals counts notes bearing one, two or three acutes (´, ´´, ´´´). John Johnson's Typographia (1824) discusses vowels "marked with acutes".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- John Farey's 1817 discussion of musical intervals counts notes bearing one, two or three acute marks, demonstrating use outside spelling. en.wiktionary.org
- John Johnson wrote Typographia, published in 1824. library.vicu.utoronto.ca
- Johnson discusses vowels using the exact phrase "marked with acutes". en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 8Of a letter: bearing the accent mark that slopes upward to the right, as in the é of French or the ó of Spanish.
In French, the word 'été' starts and ends with an e acute.
French orthography distinguishes the acute é from the grave è.
UsageTo name an accented letter aloud, English usually says e acute, i acute.
Oppositegrave
Note
Michael Mitchell and Susan Wightman's typographic style handbook (2017) runs "a acute", "e acute", "i acute" and so on beside the characters. The phrase is also useful when an accented character might not survive transfer between computers.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Michael Mitchell and Susan Wightman wrote Typographic Style Handbook, published in 2017. hachette.co.uk
- The handbook lists accented characters beside the names a acute, e acute and i acute. en.wiktionary.org
- Writing out e-acute can help when the accented character causes computer-transfer problems. en.wiktionary.org
- 9High or shrill in pitch.
The bird's thin, acute call carried across the marsh long after the others went quiet.
As the kettle heated up, its hum rose into an acute whine that filled the kitchen.
Similarshrill, piercing, high-pitched, sharp
Oppositegrave
Note
Pitch is the measure here, and the opposite is grave, meaning low in pitch. William C. Larrabee explains it with strings: the shorter, smaller and tighter the string, the more acute the sound. A verse riddle about a fly and a bee in A Mathematical Miscellany gives the fly "an acuter Tone".
- 10A patient who has the acute, rather than chronic, form of a disorder such as schizophrenia.
Staff moved the acute to a quieter room until the episode passed.
The unit kept the chronics apart from the acutes.
UsageUsually plural on wards, the acutes and the chronics; formal writing prefers a patient with acute schizophrenia.
Oppositechronic
Note
Ward shorthand turns the adjective into a noun for a patient, so staff speak of "the acutes" and "the chronics." The "acute" inside it is the sudden-onset medical sense. It describes how a condition behaves, not how severe it is.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Hospital staff use the nouns "acutes" and "chronics" to label patients. ellisarchive.org
- The underlying medical adjective can describe sudden onset or rapid changes in symptoms. medlineplus.gov
- Medical acuteness does not necessarily imply severity. en.wikipedia.org
- 11Of a speech sound: sharp in quality and produced in the front of the mouth.
Oppositegrave
Note
Phonology once sorted sounds into acute and grave by quality. Acute sounds have a sharp quality, with energy in the higher frequencies, like front vowels and dental consonants. The label is dated now, and readers meet it mainly in older work on sound classification. It is easy to confuse with the pitch-accent sense, but that sense is about how high a syllable is pitched. This one is about the quality of the sound itself.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Phonological classification has distinguished acute and grave sounds by their acoustic quality. web.mit.edu
- Acuteness concerns concentration of energy in higher frequencies. Acute sounds include front vowels and dental and palatal consonants; articulation toward the front alone does not define the class, since labial consonants are grave. web.mit.edu
- The pitch-accent sense concerns a syllable's pitch. en.wiktionary.org
- The sound-classification sense has articulatory correlates. web.mit.edu
- 12To make something acute; to sharpen or whet it.
Note
The verb returns to the Latin root's meaning of sharpening. It still surfaces in self-consciously literary writing. R. J. Cyle's The Verticord (2010) has an experience that "acuted my senses".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The Latin root underlying acute means to sharpen or whet. en.wiktionary.org
- R. J. Cyle wrote The Verticord, which contains the words acuted my senses. en.wiktionary.org
- 13Of a tone or accent: typically carrying a higher pitch than the others.
- 14A tone or accent pitched higher than the others around it.
- 15To pronounce a syllable or vowel with an acute accent or higher tone.
O is a broad vowel. When acuted, it is pronounced as o in gone; thus, cron, son; when circumflexed, as o in bone; thus, ôney. And thus it answers to the Greek Omicron and Omega.
1859, John Kelly, “On the Pronunciation of the Manks Letters”
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of acute apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Late Middle English acute, used of a disease or fever that starts suddenly and lasts a short time, from Latin acūta, from acūtus ('sharp, sharpened'), the past participle of acuō ('to sharpen, whet'), from acus ('needle, pin'). It is related to ague ('an acute, intermittent fever').
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- English acute continues Late Middle English acute, used of a disease or fever with sudden onset and short duration. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English word comes from Latin acūta, a form of acūtus, meaning sharp or sharpened. en.wiktionary.org
- Acūtus is the past participle of acuō. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin acuō means to sharpen or whet. en.wiktionary.org
- The traditional derivation traces acuō to acus, meaning needle or pin. en.wiktionary.org
- Acute and ague are etymologically related. en.wiktionary.org
- Ague denotes an acute or intermittent fever. en.wiktionary.org