For such a short and simple-looking word, acute has a rather bewildering range of meanings. It first entered the English language with a medical sense, referring to the sharpness or severity …

ACUTE definition: sharp or severe in effect; intense. See examples of acute used in a sentence.

ACUTE definition: 1. If a bad situation is acute, it causes severe problems or damage: 2. An acute pain or illness…. Learn more.

1. sharp or severe in effect; intense: acute pain. 2. extremely great or serious: an acute shortage of oil. 3. (of disease) brief and severe (disting. from chronic). 4. penetrating in intellect, insight, …

An acute illness is one that becomes severe very quickly but does not last very long. Compare chronic.

Definition of acute adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

Use the adjective acute for when you want to describe something as sharp or extremely serious. The word acute is one word; it's not two words, nor does it have anything to do with something …

In medicine, describing a disease as acute denotes that it is of recent onset; it occasionally denotes a short duration.

acute, adj. & n. meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary

Dec 5, 2025 · 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.