Acutes

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Describing something characterized by sharpness or severity ; indicating a grammatical accent that rises sharply in pitch ; representing angles smaller than 90 degrees in geometry
2. Referring to conditions or sensations that are intense and severe ; denoting a mark placed over a vowel to signal a higher tone or stress ; identifying angles that measure less than a right angle in mathematics
3. Pertaining to highly intense or critical states ; specifying a diacritical symbol used in pronunciation to denote stress or emphasis ; classifying angles in shapes as those less than ninety degrees

Etymology: "Acutes" is the third-person singular present form of "acute", so the story belongs to the adjective. That word began as a medical term. In Late Middle English, an "acute" fever was one that came on suddenly and lasted only a short time, and an "acute" humour was one that irritated or cut. The sense of sharpness came first, and the illness sense grew out of it. The root is a physical object. Latin "acūtus" meant "sharp" or "sharpened," and it was the past participle of "acuō," "to make pointed, sharpen, whet." Beneath that lies "acus," "needle" or "pin." So the word's oldest meaning is literally something pointed, like a needle. The same Latin ancestry produced a surprising relative in English: "ague," the old word for a fever with shivering fits, is cognate with "acute." Two words that now look unrelated, one describing a sharp pain or sharp mind and the other a chill, descend from the same needle.

Synonyms: sharpens, intensifies, heightens, enhances, strengthens

Antonyms: dulls, softens, weakens, lessens, reduces