different between acute vs frightful

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English ac?te (“of a disease or fever: starting suddenly and lasting for a short time; of a humour: irritating, sharp”), from Latin ac?ta, from ac?tus (“sharp, sharpened”), perfect passive participle of acu? (“to make pointed, sharpen, whet”), from acus (“needle, pin”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?e?- (“sharp”). The word is cognate to ague (“acute, intermittent fever”).

As regards the noun, which is derived from the verb, compare Middle English ac?te (“severe but short-lived fever; of blood: corrosiveness, sharpness; musical note of high pitch”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??kju?t/
• (General American) enPR: ?-kyo?ot?, IPA^(key): /??kjut/
• Rhymes: -u?t

Adjective

acute (comparative acuter or more acute, superlative acutest or most acute)

1. Brief, quick, short.

   Synonyms: fast, rapid

   Antonyms: leisurely, slow
2. High or shrill.

   Antonym: grave
3. Intense, sensitive, sharp.

   Synonyms: keen, powerful, strong

   Antonyms: dull, obtuse, slow, witless
4. Urgent.

   Synonyms: emergent, pressing, sudden
5. (botany) With the sides meeting directly to form an acute angle (at an apex or base).

   Antonym: obtuse
6. (geometry) Of an angle: less than 90 degrees.

   Antonym: obtuse
7. (geometry) Of a triangle: having all three interior angles measuring less than 90 degrees.

   Synonym: acute-angled

   Antonyms: obtuse, obtuse-angled
8. (linguistics, chiefly historical) Of an accent or tone: generally higher than others.
9. (medicine) Of an abnormal condition of recent or sudden onset, in contrast to delayed onset; this sense does not imply severity, unlike the common usage.
10. (medicine) Of a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic condition; this sense also does not imply severity.

    Antonym: chronic
11. (orthography) After a letter of the alphabet: having an acute accent.

Derived terms

Related terms

• ague

Translations

Noun

acute (plural acutes)

1. (medicine) A person who has the acute form of a disorder, such as schizophrenia.
2. (linguistics, chiefly historical) An accent or tone higher than others.

   Antonym: grave
3. (orthography) An acute accent (´).

Translations

Verb

acute (third-person singular simple present acutes, present participle acuting, simple past and past participle acuted)

1. (transitive, phonetics) To give an acute sound to.
2. (transitive, archaic) To make acute; to sharpen, to whet.

Translations

References

Further reading

• acute (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• AUTEC, Ceuta

Asturian

Verb

acute

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of acutar

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ky.t?/

Adjective

acute

1. Inflected form of acuut.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.kyt/
• Homophone: acutes

Adjective

acute

1. feminine singular of acut

Interlingua

Adjective

acute (not comparable)

1. acute

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?kute/

Adjective

acute

1. feminine plural of acuto

Anagrams

• caute

Latin

Participle

ac?te

1. vocative masculine singular of ac?tus

References

• acute in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• acute in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• acute in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Alternative forms

• frightfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtful (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fr?t?f?l, IPA^(key): /?f?a?tf?l/
• Hyphenation: fright?ful

Adjective

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (obsolete) Full of fright, whether
   1. Afraid, frightened.
      • c. 1250, Genesis and Exodus, line 3459:

        Ðis frigtful ðus a-biden,
        Quiles ðis dai?es for ben gliden.

   2. Timid, fearful, easily frightened.
2. Full of something causing fright, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming.
   2. (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, dreadful, awful (also used as an intensifier).
      • 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 1:

        Francis Urquhart: What a frightful little man. Where do they find them these days?
        Tim Stamper: God knows. If I had a dog like that, I'd shoot it.
        Francis Urquhart: Well, yes. Quite.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

Derived terms

• frightfully

Translations

Adverb

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (dialect) Frightfully; very.

References

• Webster's, "frightful", 1913.
• Oxford English Dictionary, "frightful, adj.", 1898.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• frigtful

Etymology

From Old English forhtful; equivalent to fright +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?frixt?ful/

Adjective

frightful

1. (rare) afraid, frightened

Descendants

• English: frightful

References

• “frightful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.