adj.
- critical; serious:
an acute housing shortage.
▸(of an illness) coming sharply to a crisis; severe. Often contrasted with chronic.
- perceptive; shrewd.
▸(of a physical sense or faculty) highly developed.
- (of an angle) less than 90°.
- (of a sound) high; shrill.
n.
short for
acute accent.
Derivative
- acutance n.
- acutely adv.
- acuteness n.
Etymology
ME: from L. acut-, acuere ‘sharpen’, from acus ‘needle’.