acuminate

American  

[uh-kyoo-muh-nit, -neyt, uh-kyoo-muh-neyt] / əˈkju mə nɪt, -ˌneɪt, əˈkju məˌneɪt /

adjective

1. Botany, Zoology. pointed; tapering to a point.

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verb (used with object)

acuminated, acuminating

1. to make sharp or keen.

acuminate British  

adjective

1. narrowing to a sharp point, as some types of leaf

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verb

1. (tr) to make pointed or sharp

Other Word Forms

• acumination
  noun
• subacumination
  noun
• subacuminate
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of acuminate

1595–1605; < Latin acūminātus (past participle of acūmināre ), equivalent to acūmin- (stem of acūmen ) acumen + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acuminate acuminated

Another species in crisis is the acuminate crayfish, which is unique to Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, experts said, and found largely in the Anacostia watershed.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 22, 2021

A series of fortunate events brought me to a floor somewhere in the mid-twenties of London’s most acuminate skyscraper, the 72-storey, 306-metre Shard.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 9, 2014

Larger; leaves long-lanceolate from a cordate clasping base and acuminate, wavy, 3–4½´ long; peduncles thickened upward.—Same range as the species, and extending west to the Pacific.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

Leaves.—Rhomboidal; acuminate; netted-veined; five-nerved; two to six inches long.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Mary Elizabeth Parsons

The flicker’s tail looks and feels very much like that of any other bird except that the shafts are stiffer and the vanes contract to an acuminate tip.

From The Woodpeckers by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm

Spire slightly produced, acuminated; the whorls with a central indented line.

From Zoological Illustrations, Volume I or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by William Swainson

Upper and lower points rounded; in rare varieties, both ends are sharply acuminated.

From A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia With Figures of all the Species. by Charles Darwin

This band or stripe varies in width and proportionate length and position in different species; it is slightly elevated, and marked with larger, or small circular discoid, or acuminated eminences.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by John MacGillivray

Cells deeply immersed; mouths in some entire and unarmed; in others, with two acuminated conical lips; immediately beneath the apex of the posterior lip a small sessile avicularium.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by John MacGillivray

It consists of a more or less generalized, disseminated or grouped, millet-seed-sized, acuminated pustules, usually seated upon dull-red, papular elevations.

From Essentials of Diseases of the Skin Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine by Henry Weightman Stelwagon