acute, adj.1. pointed, sharpened, peaked, cus-pated, cuspidate, acuate, Botr
apiculate; needleshaped; acicular, aciculate, Bot., Zool.
acuminate; barbed, prickly, spinous, acanthaceous, echinate, pectinated.
2. sharp, intense, cutting, piercing, excruciating, exquisite, fierce; poignant, distressing, distressful, painful, piquant, pungent.
3. abrupt, sudden, rapid, extreme, precipitous.
4. severe, critical, crucial, climactic, decisive, determining; momentous, major, great, profound, important, vital, essential, imperative; grave, drastic, serious, deep, urgent, pressing, exigent; dangerous, imminent, hazardous, precarious, dubious, ticklish; impending, threatening.
5. penetrating, astute, discerning, perceptive, intelligent, perspicacious; sharp-witted, clever, smart, bright, sharp, brainy, ingenious, brilliant; knowing, wise, sage, sagacious, sapient; keen, clear-witted; keen-sighted, discriminating, intuitive, judicious, comprehending; aware, wide-awake, on the ball; shrewd, calculating, cunning, artful, wily, foxy, crafty, hardheaded.
acutely, adv.
1. sharply, intensely, piercingly, excruciatingly; poignantly, distressfully, painfully, piquantly, pungently.
2. severely, critically, crucially; profoundly, vitally, gravely, drastically, seriously, deeply.
3. keenly, incisively, penetratingly, astutely, perceptively, cleverly, ingeniously, shrewdly, cunningly, artfully.
acuteness, n.1. sharpness, keenness, pointedness; acumination, cuspidation, spinousness.
2. intensity, exquisiteness, fierceness; poignancy, piquancy, pungency.
3. abruptness, suddenness, rapidness, extremity, precipitousness.
4. severity, criticalness, cruciality, momentousness, greatness, profoundness, importance, imperativeness.
5. penetration, astuteness, discernment, perception, intelligence, perspicacity; wit, cleverness, smartness, brightness, acuity, sharpness, ingeniousness, brilliance; wisdom, sagacity; keenness, clear-wittedness, keen-sightedness, discrimination, intuitiveness, judiciousness; shrewdness, cunning, artfulness, wiliness, craftiness.
adage, n.1. proverb, Archaic, word, aphorism, gnome, apophthegm, Archaic, sentence, saying, moral; axiom, maxim, precept, dictum; principle, law, rule, golden rule, motto, byword; saw, hackneyed phrase, cliche, platitude, truism, Inf.bromide, commonplace.
2. epigram, mot, witticism, Fr. jeu d'esprit,
quip. Atticism.
adamant, adj.1. flinty, stonelike, rock, rock-hard, hard as rock, adamantine; impenetrable; unbreakable, infrangible, imperishable, indestructable.
2. immovable, inflexible, rigid, stiff, firm, unshake-able, obdurate, inexorable, intractable, unyielding, unbending, uncompromising, intransigent; stubborn, tough, hard-nosed, hard-bitten; callous, inured, stoney, unfeeling, unmerciful, merciless, pitiless, hard-hearted, cold-hearted.
adamantine, adj.flinty, rock-hard; rigid, firm, immovable. See - adamant (defs. 1,2).
adapt, v. 1. adjust, make suitable, modify, moderate, limit, qualify, Archaic, attemper; conform, accommodate, comply, fit, suit; convert, change, alter, transform, metamorphose; fashion, shape, proportion, remodel.