acuteness

American  

[uh-kyoot-nis] / əˈkyut nɪs /

noun

1. sharpness or intensity.

   The incident illustrates with devastating acuteness how important it is to consider the needs of others when choosing our words.

2. the fact, quality, or degree of being serious or critical; severity.

   The acuteness of these social problems varies from country to country, but everywhere they are an offense against human dignity.

3. the quality of being sharp or penetrating in intellect or insight.

   I appreciated the courtesy of the committee's interrogation as well as the acuteness of their questions.

4. sensitivity even to slight details or impressions.

   The acuteness of my hearing while under nervous strain was extraordinary—I could hear a watch ticking three rooms away.

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Other Word Forms

• hyperacuteness noun
• nonacuteness noun
• overacuteness noun
• superacuteness noun

Etymology

Origin of acuteness

acute ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

A bout of weepy swooning, marveling at the acuteness of an aspartame-induced diet soda headache, was a bracing warning that even joy could be distractingly paralyzing.

From Washington Post • Mar. 11, 2022

And the acuteness of that challenge has occurred at the same time as the rise of Q-stagram.

From Slate • Sep. 18, 2020

Over the last few months of dedicated wild swimming in the Pacific and in the San Francisco Bay, I have noted both the otherworldliness and the acuteness of experience that Deakin so vividly depicted.

From The Guardian • Aug. 6, 2020

Glacial and scary, the piece conjured the internal and external world in which we now live with far more acuteness than more overtly “political” compositions I’ve heard.

From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2018

It is impossible to express with what acuteness I felt the convict’s breathing, not only on the back of my head, but all along my spine.

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens