sharpener
Americannoun
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sharpeners
plural
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a tool, device, or machine used to produce or restore a fine edge or point on blades, pencils, etc.
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a person whose work is to restore a fine edge or point on things by means of such a tool or machine.
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a person, activity, or thing that serves to hone or challenge a person's thinking, skill, etc.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
What she needs is a good knife sharpener.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Many favor the $147 pencil sharpener as the worst offender.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Don’t trust the gift recipient with a knife sharpener?
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2024
"In atom-probe tomography, we start by sharpening a piece of the lunar sample into a very sharp tip, using a focused ion beam microscope, almost like a very fancy pencil sharpener," Greer said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2023
A group of girls gathered by the pencil sharpener around Maddy and Emma, who showed off the matching temporary pink streaks that Maddy’s older sister had put into their hair the night before.
From "George" by Alex Gino
In other rooms, colleagues arranged pencil sharpeners, water bottles and crayons in patterns, recording with depth-sensor cameras.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
With other wines, I saw burgundy shavings curl out of one of those old elementary school manual pencil sharpeners.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 16, 2022
Electric sharpeners require little effort on your end, but stones are generally the preferred choice since they're gentler on blades, relatively inexpensive, and easy to use.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2022
She sourced vintage parts, as she always had, from eBay — microscopes, pencil sharpeners, rotary phones, juicers, musical instruments — and grafted them on, with every piece serving a function.
From New York Times ● May 11, 2022
The top drawer was reserved for random items—handheld pencil sharpeners, school glue, masking tape, abnormally small screwdrivers, things like that.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
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