sharp
Noun pluralsharps
Pluralsharps
Formssharps, sharping, sharped
- 1Having a fine edge or point capable of cutting or piercing easily; not dull or rounded.
The chef kept his knives sharp enough to slice paper.
Hikers warned each other about the sharp rocks along the trail.
UsageThe opposite is blunt or dull. A common pattern: sharp enough to cut paper.
Note
The physical sense at the root of the word. It covers points as well as edges: a filed nail, a pencil, a knife. It also stretches to sharp features, where nothing cuts but the lines of a face look as though they could.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The physical meaning is ancestral to the English word. en.wiktionary.org
- 2Sudden, abrupt, and intense; occurring or changing rapidly.
A sharp drop in temperature caught the hikers off guard.
After the announcement, there was a sharp jump in online orders.
UsageCommon with changes: a sharp rise, a sharp fall. The adverb is sharply: prices rose sharply.
- 3Precise, exact, and accurate; finely tuned in judgment or perception.
Her sharp sense of timing made the comedy land perfectly.
The accountant's sharp attention to figures caught the discrepancy.
UsageCommon for images and senses: a sharp photo, sharp eyes, sharp hearing.
Similarkeen, acute, precise, fine
Note
Photographers lean on this sense: an image is sharp when its detail is crisp and in focus. The same idea of exactness covers aim and timing, as in a shot that needs sharp aim to land.
- 4Quick to notice, understand, or respond; intelligent and mentally alert.
The detective stayed sharp even after a long night on the case.
A sharp cashier noticed the fake bill and quietly called her manager.
UsageCommon phrases: a sharp mind, a sharp eye, stay sharp.
Similaralert, astute, quick, perceptive, bright
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- 8Piercing and severe; causing an intense, stabbing pain or sensation.
Halfway through the race, a sharp pain in her side forced her to slow to a walk.
The sharp cold made her eyes water within seconds.
UsageCommon with pain and cold. Contrast a sharp pain with a dull ache.
Similarstabbing, piercing, shooting, acute, biting
Note
The sense poets reach for, stretching from bodily pain to cold air and to suffering itself. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, sharp misery wears a man to the bones. Cowper's The Task (1785) follows a rough winter night with a morning sharp and clear. The superlative suits a high style, as in Keble's "sharpest perils."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. gutenberg.org
- Romeo and Juliet describes a man worn to the bones by sharp misery; Romeo says this about the apothecary. gutenberg.org
- William Cowper's The Task was first published in 1785. en.wikipedia.org
- The Task follows a rough winter night with a morning described as sharp and clear. gutenberg.org
- John Keble used the words sharpest perils. gutenberg.org
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- 13An object with a sharp point or cutting edge, such as a needle, syringe, or blade, especially one that must be handled or disposed of safely; usually plural.
A discarded sharp on the beach can cut an unwary swimmer.
Safety rules require all sharps to be sealed before disposal.
UsageCommon combinations: a sharps container, sharps disposal.
Note
A term from the safety rules of wards and clinics. The test is whether an item could break human skin, not what it was made for. In psychiatric and healthcare settings, the category therefore reaches well beyond needles and blades.
- 14A note raised one semitone above its natural pitch, or the sign ♯ that shows this, written before a note or in a key signature.
The key signature had two sharps, so she adjusted her fingering.
He penciled a sharp in front of the F to remind himself.
Oppositeflat
Note
On the page its place depends on context. In a key signature it is set at the start of the staff, while within the music it stands directly before the note it raises. In the plural it joins flats in the stock phrase sharps and flats, shorthand for the accidentals that make a transposed part harder to read.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Sharps in a key signature are placed at the beginning of the staff. github.com
- An individual sharp accidental is written before the affected note. musictheory.pugetsound.edu
- Accidentals also include naturals; sharps and flats are therefore not an exhaustive description. musictheory.pugetsound.edu
- 15So that a path or movement bends at a tight angle rather than in a gentle curve.
Just past the old mill, the creek turns sharp to the north and disappears into the woods.
The running back cut sharp left and slipped past two defenders.
UsageUse sharp before a direction word: turn sharp left. Sharply also works: turn sharply left.
Less common meanings
- 16Raised by one semitone in pitch, shown by the ♯ symbol after the note's name.
The piece is written in F sharp major.
The melody climbs from G to G sharp before settling on A.
UsageFollows the letter: F sharp, C sharp major. Often written F♯.
Oppositeflat
Note
Pitch raised on purpose, as the music directs. Because the raise is written into the music, it is no error. That sets it apart from the "out of tune" meaning, where the same word marks a performer drifting too high.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- A notated sharp directs an intentional raising of pitch by one semitone. openbooks.macewan.ca
- The prescribed raising of a note is part of its correct performance. en.wikipedia.org
- Sharp intonation means performing above the intended pitch. johnhenny.com
- 17Higher in pitch than the correct or intended note.
The flute's high E is a little sharp, so she pulls the headjoint out slightly.
His guitar's high string was noticeably sharp.
UsageUsually after a verb: was sharp, went sharp. The opposite is flat.
Oppositeflat
Note
Musicians often attach a measure to it: a violin sharp by about an eighth of a tone. It describes a player, voice or instrument that has crept above the agreed pitch, and it usually comes after a verb: was sharp, went sharp, drifted sharp. Its twin for the act of performing is singing or playing sharp.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Sharp intonation is pitch above the intended pitch. sites.wp.odu.edu
- 18To raise a note's pitch by a half step, turning a natural note into a sharp.
Composers sometimes sharp a note to add tension to a phrase.
The composer sharped the F in the last bar to give the tune a brighter ending.
UsageFor edges, the verb is sharpen. This verb is for notes: sharped the F.
Similarraise
Oppositeflatten
Note
The musical verb covers both intent and error. A composer sharps a note on purpose, a tone-deaf player sharps one by accident, and only the context tells you which.
- 19At a pitch higher than is correct or desirable.
The oboe came in sharp and clashed with the strings.
He tends to sing sharp when he gets nervous.
UsageFollows a verb of performing: sing sharp, play sharp, came in sharp.
Oppositeflat
Note
In Dutton Cook's Hobson's Choice, Matilda Milner frequently sang sharp, so the word can describe a habit as easily as a slip. It is nearly always a complaint, since pitch above the correct one is rarely the goal.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Dutton Cook wrote Hobson's Choice. upload.wikimedia.org
- The novel describes Matilda Milner as frequently singing sharp. upload.wikimedia.org
- 20Clever at gaining an advantage in a way that is dishonest or barely legal, especially in business or money matters.
Regulators fined the lender for sharp practices that buried high fees in the fine print of its loans.
A sharp trader, he knew exactly when to bend the rules.
UsageCommon in sharp practice, meaning dishonest dealing, and a sharp customer.
Similarunscrupulous, shady, crafty, cunning, sly
Oppositehonest, scrupulous, upright
Note
Here shrewdness shades toward the dishonest, and the set phrases show it: a sharp dealer, a sharp customer, sharp practice. Each names someone to watch rather than admire. Jonathan Swift set the word beside vigilant and exacting in 1732, describing a clergyman's need to look after his own interests. That shows how close it sits to plain hard-headedness.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Jonathan Swift used this wording in a work first published in 1732, Considerations upon Two Bills. gutenberg.org
- Swift placed sharp beside vigilant and exacting when discussing a clergyman's financial interests. en.wiktionary.org
- 21A dishonest person who cheats, especially at cards or gambling.
The riverboat was full of sharps looking for easy targets.
Security cameras finally caught the card sharp hiding extra aces up his sleeve.
UsageUsually with the game first: card sharp, billiard sharp. Card shark is a common alternative.
Similarcheat, swindler, hustler, crook
Note
Gilbert and Sullivan's "A More Humane Mikado" (1885) has a billiard sharp, and a casino may keep pictures of known sharps for its bouncers. Despite the spelling, the word is often explained as a variant of shark, unrelated to the cutting senses. It sits close to the shrewd, barely honest adjective.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The song belongs to Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado: Gilbert wrote the words and Sullivan composed the music. en.wikipedia.org
- The Mikado, including this song, dates from 1885. en.wikipedia.org
- The song contains billiard sharp; the character singing is the Mikado. en.wikisource.org
- This noun sense is often classified as a variant spelling of shark, unrelated to the pointed or cutting senses of sharp. en.wiktionary.org
- 22Eager and keen in pursuit of something, and impatient to have one's desire satisfied.
The cold sea air had given everyone a sharp appetite by noon.
Years out of power had left the party with a sharp appetite for winning.
UsageMostly with appetite: a sharp appetite for something.
- 23Made up of hard, angular grains; gritty in texture.
Gardeners add sharp sand to heavy soil to improve drainage.
The mortar needs sharp sand rather than the rounded kind.
Oppositesoft
Note
A builders' word above all, heard in sharp sand, the angular, gritty kind wanted for mortar. Joseph Moxon's Mechanick Exercises already prescribes well-burnt lime and sharp sand, in set proportions of loads to bushels. His advice for when "the Sand be not very sharp" shows the quality was graded by degree.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- The author was Joseph Moxon. archive.org
- The title is Mechanick Exercises: or, The Doctrine of Handy-Works. archive.org
- The original instalments have title pages dated 1677–1680; 1700 is not the work's first-publication year. cca.qc.ca
- The work prescribes well-burnt lime and sharp sand for mortar in specified proportions. archive.org
- The proportions are expressed using loads and bushels. archive.org
- The phrase is "if it be very sharp". archive.org
- The passage distinguishes degrees of sharpness in sand. archive.org
- 24Marked by tactical, risky play with many attacking chances.
- 25Of a mathematical statement or bound, using the most extreme value possible, so that it cannot be improved.
- 26Fierce and passionate in feeling, or forceful and violent in action.
A sharp assault already is begun;
1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperor: Act III - 27Of a speech sound, made with breath only and no vibration of the vocal cords.
- 28Feeling a strong need for food.
“[W]hy this last week we ha'n't had nothing at all but some dry musty red herrings; so you may think, Miss, we're kept pretty sharp!”
1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia - 29In such a way as to end in a fine tip or keen cutting side.
- 30In a way that pierces or cuts through.
- 31With keenness and eager desire.
- 32The key or scale whose home note is a raised note, such as F-sharp.
- 33Any small blade, such as a lancet or scalpel, that a surgeon cuts with.
- 34A spot in a river or brook where the current races along.
- 35A medium-length needle for hand sewing with a very fine point, sharper than the types called blunts and betweens.
- 36A milling byproduct made of bits of bran mixed with coarse grains of flour.
- 37A person who is highly skilled at something.
- 38A member of one of the youth gangs active in Australia from the 1960s into the 1970s, known for their sharp dress.
- 39A long, narrow, flat-bottomed sailing boat used for fishing, as in New England.
- 40To cheat or use tricks when making a deal.
- 41To make keener or more pointed.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English scharp, from Old English sċearp, going back through Proto-Germanic *skarpaz and probably to the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- meaning "to cut." It is related to Dutch scherp and German scharf.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Sharp descends from Middle English scharp and Old English sċearp. en.wiktionary.org
- The word descends from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz. en.wiktionary.org
- The root *(s)ker- means to cut. en.wiktionary.org
- Sharp is cognate with Dutch scherp and German scharf. en.wiktionary.org