For such a short and simple-looking word, acute has a rather bewildering range of meanings. It first entered the English language with a medical sense, referring to the sharpness or severity of a symptom.

ACUTE definition: sharp or severe in effect; intense. See examples of acute used in a sentence.

ACUTE definition: 1. If a bad situation is acute, it causes severe problems or damage: 2. An acute pain or illness…. Learn more.

1. sharp or severe in effect; intense: acute pain. 2. extremely great or serious: an acute shortage of oil. 3. (of disease) brief and severe (disting. from chronic). 4. penetrating in intellect, insight, or …

Definition of acute adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. very serious or severe. There is an acute shortage of water. Competition for jobs is acute. The scandal was an acute …

Dec 5, 2025 · In order to be an acute triangle, all three angles of a triangle must be less than 90°. These triangles can have very prickly personalities.

Discover everything about the word "ACUTE" in English: meanings, translations, synonyms, pronunciations, examples, and grammar insights - all in one comprehensive guide.

Acute, penetrating, shrewd imply a keenness of understanding, perception, or insight. Acute suggests particularly a clearness of perception and a realization of related meanings: an acute intellect.

acute adjective (QUICK TO NOTICE) quick to notice or understand things: an acute mind

The acute accent (´, ́) is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts. For the most commonly encountered uses of the accent in the Latin …