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Acute - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Acute : adj
1: having or experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe
course; "acute appendicitis"; "the acute phase of the
illness"; "acute patients" [ant: chronic]
2: extremely sharp or intense; "acute pain"; "felt acute
annoyance"; "intense itching and burning" [syn: intense]
3: having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine
distinctions; "an acute observer of politics and
politicians"; "incisive comments"; "icy knifelike
reasoning"; "as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a
fang"; "penetrating insight"; "frequent penetrative
observations" [syn: discriminating, incisive, keen,
knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp]
4: of an angle; less than 90 degrees [ant: obtuse]
5: ending in a sharp point [syn: acuate, sharp, needlelike]
6: of critical importance and consequence; "an acute (or
critical) lack of research funds"
(noun)
1: a mark (') placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation
[syn: acute accent, ague]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Acute : \A*cute"\, a. [L. acutus, p. p. of acuere to sharpen, fr.
a root ak to be sharp. Cf. Ague, Cute, Edge.]
1. Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point; pointed; --
opposed to blunt or obtuse; as, an acute angle; an
acute leaf.
2. Having nice discernment; perceiving or using minute
distinctions; penetrating; clever; shrewd; -- opposed to
dull or stupid; as, an acute observer; acute remarks,
or reasoning.
3. Having nice or quick sensibility; susceptible to slight
impressions; acting keenly on the senses; sharp; keen;
intense; as, a man of acute eyesight, hearing, or feeling;
acute pain or pleasure.
4. High, or shrill, in respect to some other sound; --
opposed to grave or low; as, an acute tone or accent.
5. (Med.) Attended with symptoms of some degree of severity,
and coming speedily to a crisis; -- opposed to chronic;
as, an acute disease.
Acute angle (Geom.), an angle less than a right angle.
Syn: Subtile; ingenious; sharp; keen; penetrating; sagacious;
sharp-witted; shrewd; discerning; discriminating. See
Subtile.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Acute : \A*cute"\, v. t.
To give an acute sound to; as, he acutes his rising
inflection too much. [R.] --Walker.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Acute : Acute: Of abrupt onset, in reference to a disease. Acute often also connotes an illness that is of short duration, rapidly progessive, and in need of urgent care.
"Acute" is a measure of the time scale of a disease and is in contrast to "subacute" and "chronic." "Subacute" indicates longer duration or less rapid change. "Chronic" indicates indefinite duration
or virtually no change.
The time scale depends on the particular disease. For example, an acute myocardial infarction ( sore throat may only last a day or two.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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