The noun acute has 1 sense (no senses from tagged texts)
1. acute accent, acute, ague -- (a mark (') placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation)
Overview of adj acute
The adj acute has 6 senses (first 3 from tagged texts)
1. (2) acute -- (having or experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe course; "acute appendicitis"; "the acute phase of the illness"; "acute patients")
2. (2) acute, intense -- (extremely sharp or intense; "acute pain"; "felt acute annoyance"; "intense itching and burning")
3. (1) acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp -- (having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions; "an acute observer of politics and politicians"; "incisive comments"; "icy knifelike reasoning"; "as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang"; "penetrating insight"; "frequent penetrative observations")
4. acute -- (of an angle; less than 90 degrees)
5. acuate, acute, sharp, needlelike -- (ending in a sharp point)
6. acute -- (of critical importance and consequence; "an acute (or critical) lack of research funds")