| Noun | 1. | acute - a mark (') placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciationaccent mark, accent - a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation | |
| Adj. | 1. | acute - having or experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe course; "acute appendicitis"; "the acute phase of the illness"; "acute patients"chronic - being long-lasting and recurrent or characterized by long suffering; "chronic indigestion"; "a chronic shortage of funds"; "a chronic invalid" | |
| 2. | acute - extremely sharp or intense; "acute pain"; "felt acute annoyance"; "intense itching and burning"sharp - keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point; "a sharp pain"; "sharp winds" | |
| 3. | acute - having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions; "an acute observer of politics and politicians"; "incisive comments"; "icy knifelike reasoning"; "as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang"; "penetrating insight"; "frequent penetrative observations"perceptive - having the ability to perceive or understand; keen in discernment; "a perceptive eye"; "a perceptive observation" | |
| 4. | acute - of an angle; less than 90 degreesobtuse - of an angle; between 90 and 180 degrees | |
| 5. | acute - ending in a sharp point | |
| 6. | acute - of critical importance and consequence; "an acute (or critical) lack of research funds"critical - being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency; "a critical shortage of food"; "a critical illness"; "an illness at the critical stage" | |