acute
1. [ adjective ] (medicine) having or experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe course
Examples:

"acute appendicitis" "the acute phase of the illness" "acute patients

Related terms: chronic medicine subacute
2. [ adjective ] extremely sharp or intense
Synonyms: intense
Examples:

"acute pain" "felt acute annoyance" "intense itching and burning"

Related terms: sharp
3. [ adjective ] having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
Synonyms: sharp keen incisive penetrating knifelike piercing penetrative discriminating
Examples:

"an acute observer of politics and politicians" "incisive comments" "icy knifelike reasoning" "as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang" "penetrating insight"

Related terms: perceptive
4. [ adjective ] ending in a sharp point
Synonyms: sharp needlelike acuate
Related terms: pointed
5. [ adjective ] ending in a sharp point
Synonyms: sharp acuate
Related terms: pointed
6. [ adjective ] of an angle; less than 90 degrees
Related terms: obtuse
7. [ adjective ] of critical importance and consequence
Examples:

"an acute (or critical) lack of research funds"

Related terms: critical
8. [ noun ] a mark (') placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation
Synonyms: ague acute_accent
Related terms: accent
Similar spelling:   act
  acuate
  Actaea
  acquit
  ACTH
  Aceuedo
  Aceto
  Acedo
  Acheta
  acedia
  accede
  Accetta