different between terrible vs acute

English

Etymology

From Middle English terrible, from Old French, from Latin terribilis (“frightful”), from terre? (“I frighten, terrify, alarm; I deter by terror, scare (away)”). Compare terror, deter.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t?.??.bl?/, /?t?.??.bl?/
• Homophone: tearable, in some accents

Adjective

terrible (comparative terribler or more terrible, superlative terriblest or most terrible)

1. Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome

2. Formidable, powerful.
   • 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     […] and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog," and "real old salt," and such-like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea.
3. Intense; extreme in degree or extent.

4. Unpleasant; disagreeable.

5. Very bad; lousy.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:frightening

Antonyms

• (very bad): excellent

Adverb

terrible (comparative more terrible, superlative most terrible)

1. (colloquial, dialect) In a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully.

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• terrible in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• terrible in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• treblier

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /t??ri.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /te?ri.ble/

Adjective

terrible (masculine and feminine plural terribles)

1. terrible (causing fear)
2. terrible (formidable, intense)

French

Etymology

From Latin terribilis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?.?ibl/

Adjective

terrible (plural terribles)

1. (all senses) terrible
2. (colloquial) great, excellent

Derived terms

• enfant terrible

Related terms

• terreur
• terriblement
• terrifier

Further reading

• “terrible” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin terribilis. Cognate with English terrible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /te?rible/, [t?e?ri.??le]
• Hyphenation: te?rri?ble

Adjective

terrible (plural terribles)

1. terrible, awful, horrible (very bad)
2. appalling (shocking, causing consternation)
3. terrific (very great or intense)

Derived terms

• terribilísimo
• terriblemente

Related terms

• terror

Further reading

• “terrible” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

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