sharp

Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut or pierce easily; not dull, obtuse, or rounded.

Adjective

  1. Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut or pierce easily; not dull, obtuse, or rounded.
    • I keep my knives sharp so that they don't slip unexpectedly while carving.
    • Ernest made the pencil too sharp and accidentally stabbed himself with it.
    • a face with sharp features
  2. Intelligent.
    • My nephew is a sharp lad; he can count to 100 in six languages, and he's only five years old.
    • At school, despite his sharp mind, Malcolm was laughed at by teachers when he said he wanted to be a lawyer. - 2015 February 20, Jesse Jackson, “In the Ferguson era, Malcolm X’s courage in fighting racism inspires more...
  3. Raised by one semitone (denoted by the symbol ⟨♯⟩ after the name of the note).
  4. Higher in pitch than required.
    • The orchestra's third violin several times was sharp about an eighth of a tone.
  5. Having a strong acrid or acidic taste.
    • Milly couldn't stand sharp cheeses when she was pregnant, because they made her nauseated.
    • This grapefruit is especially sharp.
  6. Sudden, abrupt, intense, rapid.
    • A pregnant woman during labor normally experiences a number of sharp contractions.
    • The man turned and made a sharp movement towards the door.
    • She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, […] - 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s...
  7. Illegal or dishonest.
    • Michael had a number of sharp ventures that he kept off the books.
  8. Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interests; shrewd, verging on dishonest.
    • a sharp dealer, a sharp customer, sharp practice
    • But, as they have hitherto stood, a clergyman established in a competent living is not under the necessity of being so sharp, vigilant, and exacting. - 1732, Jonathan Swift, Considerations Upon Two Bills:
  9. Exact, precise, accurate; keen.
    • You'll need sharp aim to make that shot.
    • Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the...
  10. Offensive, critical, or acrimonious; stern or harsh.
    • sharp criticism
    • When the two rivals met, first there were sharp words, and then a fight broke out.
    • The reviews have ranged from excellent (In Touch, Jan 76, and Gay Literature, Winter 76) to qualified praise (GCN, 6 Mar 76) to sharp attack (Allen Young in the current Gay Liberator; Allen calls it trivial and...
  11. Stylish, smart or attractive.
    • You look so sharp in that tuxedo!
    • A sharp dresser partial to snakeskin shoes whose miniature Australian shepherd dog Saatchi is a constant fixture on family outings, [Donald] Tang's next move was to reinvent himself as a dealmaker connecting China with...
  12. Observant; alert; acute.
    • Keep a sharp watch on the prisoners. I don't want them to escape!

Origin

From Middle English scharp, from Old English sċearp, from Proto-West Germanic *skarp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-, from *(s)ker- (“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian skerp, Low German scherp, scharp, schaarp, Dutch scherp, German scharf, Danish skarp. Compare Irish cearb (“keen; cutting”), Latin acerbus (“tart, bitter”), Tocharian B kärpye (“rough”), Latvian skârbs (“sharp, rough”), Russian щерба (ščerba, “notch”), Polish szczerba (“gap, dent, jag, chip, nick, notch”), Albanian harb (“rudeness”). More at shear.

Forms

sharper sharpest

Synonyms

keen razor razor-sharp brainy bright intelligent smart witty pointed acrid pungent abrupt acute stabbing dishonest dodgy illegal illicit underhand accurate exact precise acrimonious bitter

Antonyms

blunt dull dim dim-witted slow slow-witted thick flat bland insipid tasteless above-board honest legit legitimate reputable inaccurate imprecise complimentary flattering friendly kind nice inelegant

Derived

battle-sharp besharp better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick bittersharp dagger-sharp demisharp laser-sharp look sharp needle-sharp nonsharp not the sharpest knife in the drawer not the sharpest pencil in the box outsharp oversharp pin-sharp razor sharp scary sharp sharp as a bowling ball sharp as a butter knife sharp as a tack sharp-beaked ground finch sharpbill sharp cedar sharpchin

Adverb

  1. In a sharp manner: a less usual alternative to sharply in certain senses.

    1. To a point or edge.

    2. Piercingly.

      • The iron plates rang sharp, but turn'd the spear - 1853, Matthew Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum:

    3. Eagerly.

      • You bite so sharp at reasons. - c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

    4. So as to make a sharp, or tight, angle.

      • South of the city the river turns sharp to the east.
      • sharp left, sharp right
  2. Exactly.
    • I'll see you at twelve o'clock sharp.
  3. In a higher pitch than is correct or desirable.
    • I didn't enjoy the concert much because the soprano sang sharp on all the high notes.
    • 1867, Dutton Cook, Hobson's Choice, Chapter 8, “Music Hath Charms”, p. 72 https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hobson_s_Choice/hwhhEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Matilda+Milner+frequently+sang+sharp%22&pg=PA72&printsec=fr...

Forms

sharper sharpest

Synonyms

exactly on the dot precisely

Derived

brace sharp look sharp

Noun

  1. The symbol ⟨♯⟩, placed after the name of a note in the key signature or before a note on the staff to indicate that the note is to be played one chromatic semitone higher.
    • The pitch pipe sounded out a perfect F♯ (F sharp).
    • Transposition frequently is harder to read because of all the sharps and flats on the staff.
  2. A note that is played one chromatic semitone higher than usual; denoted by the name of the note that is followed by the symbol ⟨♯⟩.
  3. A note that is sharp in a particular key.
    • The piece was difficult to read after it had been transposed, since in the new key many notes were sharps.
  4. The scale having a particular sharp note as its tonic.
    • Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is written in C♯ minor (C sharp minor).
  5. Something that is sharp.
    • Place sharps in the specially marked red container for safe disposal.
    • If butchers had but the manners to go to sharps, gentlemen would be contented with a rubber at cuffs. - c. 1700, Jeremy Collier, On Duelling:

    1. (medicine) A hypodermic syringe.

    2. (medicine, dated) A scalpel or other edged instrument used in surgery.

    3. (psychiatry, healthcare) A sharp object; any item pointed enough to injure human skin.

  6. A dishonest person; a cheater.
    • The billiard sharp whom anyone catches / His doom's extremely hard— [...] - 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, “A More Humane Mikado”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London:...
    • The casino kept in the break room a set of pictures of known sharps for the bouncers to see.
    • This usage is often classified as a variant spelling of shark, and unrelated to the 'pointed' or 'cutting' meanings of sharp.
  7. Part of a stream where the water runs very rapidly.
    • here are good fish to be picked out of sharps and stop-holes into the water-tables - 1858, Charles Kingsley, “Chalk Stream Studies”, in Fraser's Magazine:
  8. A sewing needle with a very slender point, more pointed than a blunt or a between.
  9. Fine particles of husk mixed with coarse particle of flour of cereals; middlings.
    • While he worked he talked to his ducks, who were waddling about hopefully, as it was almost time for the red bucket to be filled with sharps and potato-peelings. - 1954, Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead,...
  10. An expert.
  11. A sharpie (member of Australian gangs of the 1960s and 1970s).
    • The Circle was one of the few dances the older sharps frequented; mostly they were to be found in pubs, pool-halls or at the track. - 2006, Iain McIntyre, Tomorrow Is Today: Australia in the Psychedelic Era, 1966-1970:
  12. Alternative form of sharpie (“type of fishing boat”).

Forms

sharps

Related

accidental flat natural ♯

Derived

A-sharp B-sharp C-sharp double sharp D-sharp E-sharp F-sharp G-sharp sharp-and-a-half cardsharp card sharp

Verb

  1. To raise the pitch of a note half a step making a natural note a sharp.
    • That new musician must be tone deaf: he sharped half the notes of the song!
  2. To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.
    • he made a shift yet to pick up a Sorry Living upon the Rook ; and not by Sharping alone , but now and then by downright Stealing - 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of...
  3. To sharpen.

Forms

sharps sharping sharped

Related

sharp-sharp