Dictionary

acuteness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English acute Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English acuteness From acute + -ness.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The quality of being acute or pointed.
   • the acuteness of an angle
2. (uncountable, usually) Of the senses or feelings: the faculty of precise discernment or perception; sensitiveness.
   • By acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions.
   • By acuteness of feeling, we perceive small objects or slight impressions.
3. (uncountable, usually) Of sounds: shrillness; high pitch.
4. (uncountable, usually) Violence of a disease, which brings it speedily to a crisis.
   • At the time, I set it down to some idiosyncratic, personal distaste, and merely wondered at the acuteness of the symptoms; but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle of hatred. 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 99:
5. (uncountable, usually) Shrewdness, quickness of mind.

Forms

Relateds

acutance

Synonyms

acuity · sharpness · acumen · keenness

Translations (22)

de Akuität (violence of a disease) · es agudez (quality of being pointed) · es agudeza (shrillness) · fi akuuttisuus (violence of a disease) · fi tarkkuus (of the senses or feelings: sensitiveness) · fi oveluus (shrewdness) (shrewdness, quickness of mind) · fi terävyys (of the senses or feelings: sensitiveness) · fi kimeys (shrillness) · es agudez (violence of a disease) · fi nokkeluus (shrewdness, quickness of mind) · fi terävyys (quality of being pointed) · es agudeza (shrewdness, quickness of mind) · eo akro (of the senses or feelings: sensitiveness) · eo akreco (quality of being pointed) · es agudez (shrewdness, quickness of mind) · es agudeza (of the senses or feelings: sensitiveness) · eo akreco (of the senses or feelings: sensitiveness) · es agudez (shrillness) · es agudeza (quality of being pointed) · es agudeza (violence of a disease) · eo akro (quality of being pointed) · es agudez (of the senses or feelings: sensitiveness)