sharpen
verb
Simple meaning
Make crisp or more crisp and precise.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
shahrpuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈʃɑɹpən
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Make crisp or more crisp and precise
“We had to sharpen our arguments.”
Make (one's senses) more acute
“This drug will sharpen your vision.”
Make (images or sounds) sharp or sharper
transitivesometimes figurative
To make sharp.
intransitive
To become sharp.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Make crisp or more crisp and precise
Used this way, sharpen is a common word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.
“We had to sharpen our arguments.”
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Careful and exacting
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sharpen
- “We had to sharpen our arguments.”verb
- “This drug will sharpen your vision.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Any implement that is used to make something (an edge or a point) sharper.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A rotary implement for sharpening the point on pencils.
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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.