pointed

Etymology

verb

1. simple past and past participle of point

adj

1. (comparable) Sharp, barbed; not dull.
   The warrior brandished a pointed spear.
2. (comparable) Having a relevance to the matter at hand: pertinent, relevant.
3. (not comparable) In animals, having a coat pattern with points, that is, darkening of the extremities.
   The Siamese is a pointed breed of cat.
4. (comparable, of a comment or inference) Directed negatively at a person or topic.
   Attention has been called to the report in a New-York paper, which has been made the subject of pointed comment […] February 21 1863, “Important from Washington”, in The New York Times
   After a harsh police crackdown last week fueled anger and swelled protests, President Dilma Rousseff, a former guerrilla who was imprisoned under the dictatorship and has now become the target of pointed criticism herself, tried to appease dissenters by embracing their cause on Tuesday. June 18 2013, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-06-21
   President Taft to-day had a pointed comment for the "new nationalism" that his predecessor has been launching in the West. September 3 1910, “Taft Is Not Pleased by Roosevelt Plan”, in The New York Times
5. (topology, algebraic topology, of a topological space) That has a named, but otherwise arbitrary, point (called the basepoint) that remains unchanged during subsequent discussion and is kept track of during all operations.
   The class of all pointed spaces forms a category - Top_• - with basepoint preserving continuous maps as morphisms.