acute

Etymology

From Late Middle English acute (“of a disease or fever: starting suddenly and lasting for a short time; of a humour: irritating, sharp”), from Latin acūta, from acūtus (“sharp, sharpened”), perfect passive participle of acuō (“to make pointed, sharpen, whet”), from acus (“needle, pin”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”). The word is cognate to ague (“acute, intermittent fever”). As regards the noun, which is derived from the verb, compare Middle English acūte (“severe but short-lived fever; of blood: corrosiveness, sharpness; musical note of high pitch”).

adj

1. Brief, quick, short.
   It was an acute event.
   Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer. 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance: How Risky is Inhalation of Organic Solvents?”, in American Scientist, Research Triangle Park, N.C.: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-06-19
2. High or shrill.
   an acute accent or tone
   The nimble Fly's Wings quicker were / Than those of her Competitor [a bee], / As may by this appear; / For an acuter Tone they made, / And in a ſharper Key they play'd, / (Which made the matter clear.) 1751, “a Lover of the Mathematicks” [pseudonym; Nathaniel Whittemore?], “Part II. New Paradoxes Solved.”, in A Mathematical Miscellany, in Four Parts., London: Printed for M. Cooper,[…], →OCLC, paradox 61, stanza III, page 53
   The acuteness of sound in stringed instruments depends on three circumstances—length, thickness, and tension. The shorter, smaller, and tighter a string, the more acute the sound. […] In the violin, when you desire an acute sound, you tighten the string. When you wish a loud sound, you draw the bow over the strings heavily. 1851, William C. Larrabee, “Lecture X. Evidences of Design from the Structure and Adaptations of the External Senses.”, in B[enjamin] F[ranklin] Tefft, editor, Lectures on the Scientific Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, Cincinnati, Oh.: Published by L. Swormstedt & J. H. Power, for the Methodist Episcopal Church,[…]; R. P. Thompson, printer, →OCLC, paragraph 233, page 177
3. Intense; sensitive; sharp.
   She had an acute sense of honour
   Eagles have very acute vision.
   It was at this time that the discord between Dmitri and his father seemed at its acutest stage and their relations had become insufferably strained. 1912, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Elders”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Brothers Karamazov (Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky; 1), London: W[illiam] Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Brothers Karamazov, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, [1943], →OCLC, page 32
   Then, at three, for Neville's sake and for the sake of her marriage as undernourished and spectral as it had been rendered by absence, its substance being all in the future, and an honest hope of hearing some news or of extending solace to other women, not least those with children, who seemed each to have an acuter sense of the man she was missing than Alice had of Neville, she attended the Friday meeting for wives and mothers of prisoners of war at the School of the Arts. 2013, Thomas Keneally, Shame and the Captives, North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia; 1st Atria Books hardcover edition, New York, N.Y.: Atria, 2015, page 87
4. Urgent.
   His need for medical attention was acute.
5. (botany) With the sides meeting directly to form an acute angle (at an apex or base).
   204. Eremophila abietina […] Corolla 23–35 mm long, cream or very pale lilac, lobes faintly metallic bluish green or lilac, tube occasionally brownish, prominently purple spotted; outer and inner surfaces glandular-pubescent; lobes acute, lobe of lower lip strongly reflexed. 24 April 2007, R[obert] J[ames] Chinnock, “Taxonomic Treatment of the Family Myoporaceae R. Br.”, in Eremophila and Allied Genera: A Monograph of the Plant Family Myoporaceae, Dural Delivery Centre, N.S.W.: Rosenberg Publishing, section XXV (Eremophila sec. Pulchrisepalae (12 spp.)), page 622
6. (geometry, of an angle) Less than 90 degrees.
   The teacher pointed out the acute angle.
   Chlorophosphuret of nitrogen (at ordinary temperatures) is a solid crystalline body. […] The form of the crystals, as obtained by sublimation, is that of a rhomboid, of which the obtuse angle measures 131° or 132°, the acute 48° or 49°: the acute angle of this rhomboid, either at one or both ends, is often truncated, when of course the angle formed is about 114°: the hexagonal prism is also found. 30 March 1850, J[ohn] H[all] Gladstone, “On Chlorophosphuret of Nitrogen and Its Products of Decomposition”, in Henry Watts, editor, The Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society of London, volume III, number X, London: Hippolyte Bailliere,[…], published 1851, →OCLC, part I, page 138
7. (geometry, of a triangle) Having all three interior angles measuring less than 90 degrees.
   an acute triangle
   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. So, if you want to create images of porcupines, rugged mountains, or narrow pine trees in your geometric design, you may best do it by using acute triangles[…]. The most commonly used acute triangle in quiltmaking is the equilateral triangle[…]. All three of its angles are 60°. 1997, Joen Wolfrom, “The Fascination of Shapes”, in The Visual Dance: Creating Spectacular Quilts, Lafayette, Calif.: C&T Publishing; republished Lafayette, Calif.: C&T Publishing, 2009, page 39
8. (linguistics, chiefly historical) Of an accent or tone: generally higher than others.
   Let this [the word alalal] be ſpoken as an Engliſh word, with the ſtrong accent on either ſyllable, or, on each, in repeating the word; and, no change of articulation diſturbing the ear, it will be abundantly evident that, with ordinary Engliſh pronunciation, the strengthened syllable has always the acuter tone, or, in muſical phraſe, the higher note. 1804, William Mitford, “Section IV. Of Tones or Accents, and Emphasis in English Speech, and of Their Connection with the Time or Quantity of Syllables.”, in An Inquiry into the Principles of Harmony in Language, and of the Mechanism of Verse, Modern and Antient, 2nd edition, London: Printed by Luke Hansard,[…], for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies,[…], →OCLC, pages 57–58
9. (phonology, dated, of a sound) Sharp, produced in the front of the mouth. (See Grave and acute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia)
10. (medicine) Of an abnormal condition of recent or sudden onset, in contrast to delayed onset; this sense does not imply severity, unlike the common usage.
    He dropped dead of an acute illness.
    Of particular relevance to the ICU [intensive care unit] setting is ketorolac, a NSAID [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug] that is being increasingly used for pain control in order to avoid problems of respiratory depression, sedation, and addiction associated with narcotics. […] ICU patients, who typically are under great stress from an acute illness that is often accompanied by multiorgan dysfunction including renal insufficiency, are especially prone to develop renal complications from ketorolac[…]. 1995, G. J. Kaloyanides, “Drug-induced Acute Renal Failure”, in Rinaldo Bellomo, Claudio Ronco, editors, Acute Renal Failure in the Critically Ill (Update in Intensitve Care and Emergency Medicine; 20), Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, →DOI, page 204
11. (medicine) Of a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic condition; this sense also does not imply severity.
    The acute symptoms resolved promptly.
    Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents. 2013 May–June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News: Bat News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, Research Triangle Park, N.C.: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-06-05, page 193
12. (orthography) After a letter of the alphabet: having an acute accent.
    The last letter of ‘café’ is ‘e’ acute.
    A more conservative approach, particularly if your author is a skilled computer user, would be to replace the problem characters with simple words or codes that are guaranteed to transfer successfully between computers. For example, you could replace é with e-acute if that particular character is causing problems. […] The author could then do a search and replace to change all instances of e-acute back to é before publication. 2007, Geoff[rey J. S.] Hart, “Editing in Special Situations”, in Effective Onsceen Editing: New Tools for an Old Profession, Pointe-Claire, Que.: Diaskeuasis Publishing, page 404
    Commonly used European accents are available as below: / á Á a acute / […] / é É e acute / […] / í Í i acute / […] / ó Ó o acute / […] / ú Ú u acute 2017, [Michael] Mitchell, [Susan] Wightman, “Foreign Languages”, in Typographic Style Handbook, London: MacLehose Press, section 10.2.1 (Commonly Used Accents), page 143

noun

1. (medicine, informal) A person who has the acute form of a disorder, such as schizophrenia.
   Anne Marie had been assigned a ‘constant supervision’ status. […] Always avoiding the unrest of the television lounge, she would sometimes join some of the older ‘acutes’ who sat isolated in metal chairs at the end of the hallway and gaze out of the window with them. 1990, Gerry Fewster, “Down to Business”, in Being in Child Care: A Journey into Self, Binghamton, N.Y., London: The Haworth Press; republished New York, N.Y., Hove, East Sussex: Routledge, 2012, page 113
2. (linguistics, chiefly historical) An accent or tone higher than others.
   [I]t would be strange if we wer to recite Homer, raising our voices on the acutes, lowering them on the graves, and managing the circumflexes as well as we could, yet to recite Virgil without any of these regular elevations, depressions, and circumbendibus. 1827, Uvedale Price, “Restoration of Ancient Accent Impossible”, in An Essay on the Modern Pronunciation of the Greek and Latin Languages, Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter, →OCLC, page 206
   There would be no sense in our assuming that even an independent circumflex after an acute might be raised in pitch for the sake of clearer distinction from that acute; for it is sufficiently distinguished by its sliding tone; and, if it had any right to be further distinguished, an acute following an acute would have much more right; while, nevertheless, any number of acutes are allowed to succeed one another, without modification of their natural character. 1869–1870, William D[wight] Whitney, “II.—On the Nature and Designation of the Accent in Sanskrit.”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, Hartford, Conn.: Published by the [American Philological] Association; printed by Case, Lockwood & Brainard, published 1871, →OCLC, pages 40–41
3. (orthography) An acute accent (´).
   The word ‘cafe’ often has an acute over the ‘e’.
   The number of Notes in this Table, without either acute or grave marks (´ or `), is 75. Of those bearing one acute mark (´) it is 74, of those with two acutes (´´) 70, with three acutes (´´´ or ´³) 51, […] 1817 June, John Farey, Sen., “CI. On Mr. Listons, or the Euharmonic Scale of Musical Intervals,[…]”, in Alexander Tilloch, editor, The Philosophical Magazine and Journal:[…], volume XLIX, number 230, London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor.[…], →OCLC, page 445
   The five vowels marked with acutes over them, it is probable, were first contrived to assist the ignorant monks in reading the church service, that by this means they might arrive to a proper and settled pronunciation in the discharge of their sacerdotal duties; […] 1824, J[ohn] Johnson, “A Fount of Letter, as Considered by Letter Founders”, in Typographia, or The Printers’ Instructor:[…], volume II, London: Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green,[…], →OCLC, page 34

verb

1. (transitive, phonetics) To give an acute sound to.
   He acutes his rising inflection too much.
   Polyſyllables having their Penultima long by poſition are acuted; as Camíllus: but having it long by nature and the last ſhort, they are circumflected; as, Românus, amâre: except the Compounds of ſit, whose Ultima is acuted; as Malefít, calefít, benefít, ſatisfít. 1696, [William] Lily, W. T., “Prosodia Examin’d and Explain’d by Question and Answer”, in Lily, Improved, Corrected, and Explained; with the Etymological Part of the Common Accidence, London: Printed for R. Bentley,[…], →OCLC, page 151
   This word ωροπαροξύνον has been generally underſtood, before Dr. G[ally] undertook to explain it otherwiſe, to ſignify "acuting the antepenultima." 1762, John Foster, “On the Accent of the Old Greeks.[…]”, in An Essay on the Different Nature of Accent and Quantity, with Their Use and Application in the Pronunciation of the English, Latin, and Greek Languages;[…], Eton, Berkshire: Printed by J. Pote; […], →OCLC, pages 103–104
   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”, in A Practical Grammar of the Antient Gaelic, or Language of the Isle of Man, usually Called Manks. […] (Manx Society series; 2), Douglas, Isle of Man: Printed for the Manx Society, →OCLC; reprinted London: Bernard Quaritch,[…], 1870, →OCLC, page 4
   That the acute accent meant stress is plain from the inherited intonation of the modern Greeks; […] and, if any person objects that the modern Greek not only acutes the last syllables of these words, but makes their quantity long, this is all in favour of my argument; […] 1874, John Stuart Blackie, “On the Place and Power of Accent in Language”, in Horæ Hellenicæ: Essays and Discussions on Some Important Points of Greek Philology and Antiquity, London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 4, page 347
2. (transitive, archaic) To make acute; to sharpen, to whet.
   [A]n old Farmer […] uſed, when fuddled over Night, to walk naked, or only in his Shirt, until he had cooled himſelf throughly, […] This Courſe may not be improperly call'd a Balenum Aerium, and may be of great Uſe to ſober People, as well as the Fuddlers; for running empty, after Sleep and Concoction, warms the Blood and Spirits, acutes the Circulations, fans and cools the Lungs, helps both Excretion and Secretion; […] 1732, John Floyer, Edward Baynard, “[The Appendix.] The Other Cure Wrought by the Cold Bath, was upon Mrs. Taylor, a Young Gentlewoman that Boarded at My Father’s”, in ΨΥΧΡΟΛΟΥΣΙ´Α [PSYCHROLOUSIA]: Or, The History of Cold-bathing, both Ancient and Modern. In Two Parts.[…], 6th edition, London: Printed for W[illiam] Innys and R. Manby,[…], →OCLC, part II (Of Cold Baths), pages 476–477
   It had been over a week that I had not been over to visit my most favorable place. Since I was allowed a rare opening that jaggled an intense curiosity, it acuted my senses with great anticipation that a living current was felt in my center, brought on by something truly new. 2010, R. J. Cyle, The Verticord: Turner of Hearts, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 36