acute

/ə-ˈkyüt/

Middle English, borrowed from Latin acūtus "sharpened, pointed, having a violent onset, discerning, less than 90 degrees (of an angle)," from past participle of acuere "to sharpen, rouse, stimulate," probably derived from an otherwise unattested adjective stem acū- "sharp"; akin to acū-, acus "needle," a perhaps independently derived noun; further akin to Old Church Slavic osŭtŭ "thistle," Lithuanian ãšutas "hair of a horse's tail or mane"; all going back to the Indo-European base *heḱ- "sharp"

adjective

  1. characterized by sharpness or severity of sudden onset

  2. of rapid onset and relatively short duration

  3. being, providing, or requiring short-term medical care (as for acute disease or traumatic injury)

acute experiments

acute critical crucial mean of uncertain outcome. acute stresses intensification of conditions leading to a culmination or breaking point. critical adds to acute implications of imminent change, of attendant suspense, and of decisiveness in the outcome.

noun

  1. a disease (such as bronchitis, gastroenteritis, or the flu) of rapid onset and relatively short duration

As the population gets older, and as medical science triumphs over microbes, the burden is now shifting from acute disease to chronic disease.

noun

  1. a serious, rare, neurological condition of sudden onset chiefly affecting young children that causes inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord, results in severe, sometimes permanent weakness and loss of muscle tone especially of the arms or legs, and is often preceded by a viral respiratory illness or fever —abbreviation AFM