having a thin cutting edge or a fine point; well-adapted for cutting or piercing.
a sharp knife.
terminating in an edge or point; not blunt or rounded.
The table had sharp corners.
involving a sudden or abrupt change in direction or course.
a sharp curve in the road; The car made a sharp turn.
abrupt, as an ascent.
a sharp drop.
consisting of angular lines and pointed forms or of thin, long features.
He had a sharp face.
clearly defined; distinct.
a sharp photographic image.
distinct or marked, as a contrast.
sharp differences of opinion.
pungent or biting in taste.
a sharp cheese.
piercing or shrill in sound.
a sharp cry.
keenly cold, as weather.
a sharp, biting wind.
felt acutely; intense; distressing.
sharp pain.
merciless, caustic, or harsh.
sharp words.
fierce or violent.
a sharp struggle.
keen or eager.
sharp desire.
quick, brisk, or spirited.
alert or vigilant.
They kept a sharp watch for the enemy.
mentally acute.
a sharp lad.
extremely sensitive or responsive; keen.
sharp vision; sharp hearing.
shrewd or astute.
a sharp bargainer.
shrewd to the point of dishonesty.
sharp practice.
Music.
(of a tone) raised a chromatic half step in pitch.
F sharp.
above an intended pitch, as a note; too high (opposed to flat).
Informal. very stylish.
a sharp dresser; a sharp jacket.
Radio, Electronics. of, relating to, or responsive to a very narrow range of frequencies.
Phonetics. fortis; voiceless.
composed of hard, angular grains, as sand.
keenly or acutely.
abruptly or suddenly.
to pull a horse up sharp.
punctually.
Meet me at one o'clock sharp.
briskly; quickly.
The horse turned sharp to the left.
Music. above the true pitch.
You're singing a little sharp.
something sharp.
Usually sharps a medium-length needle with a rounded eye and a sharp point, used for all-purpose hand sewing.
a sharper.
Informal. an expert.
Music.
a tone one chromatic half step above a given tone.
(in musical notation) the symbol ♯ indicating this.
having a keen edge suitable for cutting
having an edge or point; not rounded or blunt
involving a sudden change, esp in direction
a sharp bend
moving, acting, or reacting quickly, efficiently, etc
sharp reflexes
clearly defined
mentally acute; clever; astute
sly or artful; clever in an underhand way
sharp practice
bitter or harsh
sharp words
shrill or penetrating
a sharp cry
having an acrid taste
keen; biting
a sharp wind
sharp pain
music
(immediately postpositive) denoting a note that has been raised in pitch by one chromatic semitone
B sharp
(of an instrument, voice, etc) out of tune by being or tending to be too high in pitch Compare flat 1
phonetics a less common word for fortis
informal
stylish
too smart
involved in the area of any activity where there is most difficulty, competition, danger, etc
in a sharp manner
exactly
six o'clock sharp
music
higher than a standard pitch
out of tune by being or tending to be too high in pitch Compare flat 1
she sings sharp
music
an accidental that raises the pitch of the following note by one chromatic semitone
a note affected by this accidental Compare flat 1
a thin needle with a sharp point
informal a sharper
(usually plural) any medical instrument with sharp point or edge, esp a hypodermic needle
Sharp, keen refer to the edge or point of an instrument, tool, and the like. Sharp applies, in general, to a cutting edge or a point capable of piercing: a sharp knife; a sharp point. Keen is usually applied to sharp edges: a keen sword blade. As applied to mental qualities, sharp, keen, intelligent, quick have varying implications. Sharp suggests an acute, sensitive, alert, penetrating quality: a sharp mind. Keen implies observant, incisive, and vigorous: a keen intellect. Intelligent means not only acute, alert, and active, but also able to reason and understand: an intelligent reader. Quick suggests lively and rapid comprehension, prompt response to instruction, and the like: quick at figures.
First recorded before 900; (adjective) Middle English; Old English scearp; cognate with German scharf; (adverb) Middle English; Old English scearpe, derivative of the adjective; (noun, verb) Middle English, derivative of the adjective
Something with a thin edge or a fine point that can cut is sharp. It's painful when your dog climbs into your lap, poking you with his sharp toenails. A knife and a pointed stick are sharp, since they can pierce or cut, and a piercing pain in your neck is also sharp. You can also use sharp to describe a smart person or clever decision — or someone who dresses well, or the clothes such a person wears. Sharp also means clear, like sharp images in a book of black and white photography, or sudden, like a sharp turn in a mountain road.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Micron Technology, Sandisk and other U.S. chip stocks are extending sharp declines on Tuesday as developments in Asia send ripples overseas.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Firefighters in France are working around the clock to contain wildfires that have been raging in the Gironde region, while bracing for another sharp rise in temperatures.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Researchers report that people assigned to Tübingen's type 2 diabetes risk cluster 5 continued to experience rising blood sugar, a sharp decline in insulin production, and a consistently elevated risk of developing diabetes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
Even before the sharp move, investors were concerned about the number of banks in second-quarter reports calling out a squeeze between depositors pressing for higher rates alongside a shift by borrowers to lower-yielding loans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Don’t worry, I’ll see you get overtime,” she added, pulling a wheel from her cauldron as we stepped in, placing it on a tray prepared with butter, salt, a sharp knife, and two plates.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Sharp declines for high-flying memory and chipmakers including Intel, Marvell Technology and Applied Materials led a 1.2% decline in the Nasdaq Composite index and a 0.5% drop in the S&P 500.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Sharp up and down days are increasingly common, suggesting chaos beneath the market’s bid-and-ask machinations.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Sharp, 50, went to the World Cup in 1998 — the last time Scotland qualified — and saw this year’s tournament as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his son.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
Marjorie and Mark Sharp often ask themselves one simple question - what happened to our daughter in that hospital?
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
Sharp little fists of fear punched my stomach from the inside.
From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart
No one associated with the musical knows whether a show so right for pastry puns set to sharps and flats can be a hefty source of … dough.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023
This 20th century Brazilian channeling of Bach flowed naturally from Cuong’s G sharps, leaving that impression that, while the scenery differs, the Amazon, Rhine and Mekong Delta are all rivers, and water everywhere is nourishing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2022
It also found wall-mounter hand sanitising containers were empty and medical sharps bins were filled to above capacity.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2022
The old ones go into a sharps container — a sturdy plastic box — that he sends to Trac-B Exchange in Las Vegas, where they are sterilized and pulverized for safe disposal.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2022
If there are no flats or sharps listed after the clef symbol, then the key signature is "all notes are natural."
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
In the worm's jaws, sharper changes in strain across tiny regions appear to increase the interlocking of defects within the atomic structure, producing the characteristic size effect.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
But that agreement can obscure a much sharper divergence.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2026
However, the analysts remain cautious on the shares, arguing that the stock’s strong rally this year has already priced in a sharper acceleration in growth than is currently evident.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The debate over health diplomacy has been thrown into sharper relief in recent weeks following the spread of a new outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
But now I know I am like the blade and he is like the whetstone— I am too strong to break so easily, and I become better, sharper, every time I touch him.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
The sharpest departure in the new government's foreign policy could be over Israel.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
As the investigation widened, its sharpest effect was felt far from Abuja.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
After observing these lab grown retinas over several months, the team identified the cellular events that shape the foveola, the tiny region at the center of the retina responsible for the sharpest vision.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Some of the continent’s sharpest minds, including former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, have proposed profound changes to restore economic dynamism and gain influence on the world stage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
My “defeatism,” as it was called, brought upon my head the sharpest disapproval of the party leader.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
These are some macho men of the old Southern tradition, and trying their final product usually consists of a gigantically sharped bushman’s knife hacking through a Fred Flintstone style brontosaurus size steak.
From Forbes ● Jan. 21, 2015
Hence didactic William sharped his own son out of board-money.
From Time Magazine Archive
He sharped the razor onct," said Mrs. Lieders, "but he said it was for to shave him, and I got him to promise to let the barber shave him sometime, instead.
From Stories of a Western Town by Thanet, Octave
I heerd a skreekin' an' screamin' an' screevin', as ef all the saws in Massissippi wor bein' sharped 'ithin twenty yards o' my ear.
From Our Young Folks—Vol. I, No. II, February 1865 An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls by Various
Then he that sharped, And pocketed a prize by fraud obtained, Was marked and shunned as odious.
From The Task and Other Poems by Cowper, William
Keaton’s comeback is the result, he says, of sharping his focus.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2014
Husky, usurious, "Doc" believed sharping made the victim sharp.
From Time Magazine Archive
Outwardly innocent, Santana's instrumental solos are long-lined and full of musical guile, bending, flatting and sharping with something of the intricacy of Oriental music.
From Time Magazine Archive
With all this injustice, he is never a good case, but, like those among I men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor.
From Time Magazine Archive
Oh sharping knave! that would have—you know what, For a poor sneaking treat of chocolate. p.
From The Works of Aphra Behn Volume V by Summers, Montague
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
