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acute

adjective

Simple meaning

Very serious or severe; also sharp or strong, like acute pain.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhkyoot

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əkˈjut

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Intense; sensitive; sharp.

  2. Brief, quick, short.

  3. High or shrill.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

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More ways to use acute

  • “He experienced acute pain in his leg after the fall.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Abnormal / short

acute leukemia

Acute

acute pain

Other combinations

acute angleacute pancreatitisacute phaseparticularly acuteacute stageacute form

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • acutelyadverbDerived adverb

    In a keen or penetrating way.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • acute-angled trianglenounCompound term

    A triangle whose interior angles are all acute.

  • acute anterior poliomyelitisnounCompound term

    An acute viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells of the brain stem and spinal cord.

  • acute brain disordernounCompound term

    Any disorder (as sudden confusion or disorientation) in an otherwise normal person that is due to reversible (temporary) impairment of brain tissues (as by head injuries or drugs or…

  • acute gastritisnounCompound term

    Gastritis caused by ingesting an irritant (as too much aspirin).

  • acute glaucomanounCompound term

    Glaucoma in which the iris blocks the outflow of aqueous humor.

  • acute glossitisnounCompound term

    Glossitis resulting from injury or infection and characterized by swelling and pain.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: intense

obtuse

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.