acute

adjective
UK: /əˈkjuːt/
US: /əˈkjuːt/

  1. Very serious or dangerous; requiring serious attention or action.

    1. There is an acute shortage of water right now because of the drought. [ ] [ ]
    2. The hospital has an acute care unit for patients with severe and sudden illnesses so they get acute attention. [ ] [ ]

  2. Very sensitive and well developed; able to notice very slight changes or differences.

    1. Dogs have an acute sense of smell, which helps them find things. [ ] [ ]
    2. She has an acute awareness of people's feelings and knows what to do or say to make them feel better. [ ] [ ]

  3. An angle that is less than 90 degrees.

    1. The triangle had one acute angle and two other angles. [ ] [ ]
    2. He remembered from geometry class that an acute triangle has only angles less than 90°. [ ] [ ]

  4. A disease or its symptoms that are severe and sudden.

    1. Acute bronchitis can make you cough a lot in a short time. [ ] [ ]
    2. Because she had an acute attack of appendicitis, she had to go to the emergency room. [ ] [ ]

Synonyms

critical keen severe sharp intense sensitive
acute noun

  1. A mark (´) placed over a vowel in some languages to show that it should be pronounced in a particular way.

    1. The word café in French has an acute accent on the 'e'. [ ] [ ]
    2. Knowing that Portuguese acute accents usually mark stress, helps to pronounce the words correctly. [ ] [ ]

Frequently Asked Questions

The word "acute" in English means: Very serious or dangerous; requiring serious attention or action., Very sensitive and well developed; able to notice very slight changes or differences., An angle that is less than 90 degrees., A disease or its symptoms that are severe and sudden..

The phonetic transcription of "acute" is /əˈkjuːt/ in British English and /əˈkjuːt/ in American English. Click the 🔊 button to hear both pronunciations.

Synonyms for "acute": critical, keen, severe, sharp, intense, sensitive.

Example usage of "acute": "There is an acute shortage of water right now because of the drought.". More examples on the page.