different between acute vs sarcastic

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

• sarcastick (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s???kæstik/
• (US) IPA^(key): /s???kæstik/

  Rhymes: -æst?k

Adjective

sarcastic (comparative more sarcastic, superlative most sarcastic)

1. Containing sarcasm.

   a sarcastic quip; the teacher's sarcastic tone

2. (of a person) Having the personality trait of expressing sarcasm.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     Her eyes slanted a little... and were sometimes full of fiery determination and sometimes dull and opaque. Her expression was never altogether amiable; was often, indeed, distinctly sullen, or, when she was animated, sarcastic.

Synonyms

• sarky (British)
• snarky

Derived terms

• sarky

Translations

See also

• ironic
• sardonic
• snide

References

• “sarcastic” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "sarcastic" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “sarcastic”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)

Romanian

Etymology

French sarcastique

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sar?kastik]

Adjective

sarcastic m or n (feminine singular sarcastic?, masculine plural sarcastici, feminine and neuter plural sarcastice)

1. sarcastic

Declension

Synonyms

• caustic

Adverb

sarcastic

1. sarcastically

Related terms

• sarcasm