Adjacent Words

Sharpen definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SHARPEN, v.t.
1. To make sharp; to give a keen edge or a fine point to a thing; to edge; to point; as, to sharpen a knife, an ax or the teeth of a saw; to sharpen a sword.
All of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share and his coulter, and his ax and his mattock. 2 Samuel 8.
2. To make more eager or active; as, to sharpen the edge of industry.
3. To make more pungent and painful. The abuse of wealth and greatness may hereafter sharpen the sting of conscience.
4. To make more quick, acute or ingenious. The wit or the intellect is sharpened by study.
5. To render perception more quick or acute.
Th' air sharpen'd his visual ray
To objects distant far. Milton.
6. To render more keen; to make more eager for food or for any gratification; as, to sharpen the appetite; to sharpen a desire.
7. To make biting, sarcastic or severe. Sharpen each word.
8. To render less flat, or more shrill or piercing.
Inclosures not only preserve sound, but increase and sharpen it. Bacon.
9. To make more tart or acid; to make sour; as, the rays of the sun sharpen vinegar.
10. To make more distressing; as, to sharpen grief or other evis.
11. In music, to raise a sound by means of a sharp.
SH'ARPEN, v.i. To grow or become sharp.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make sharp or sharper; "sharpen the knives" [ant: blunt, dull]
2: make crisp or more crisp and precise; "We had to sharpen our arguments"
3: become sharp or sharper; "The debate sharpened"
4: put (an image) into focus; "Please focus the image; we cannot enjoy the movie" [syn: focus, focalize, focalise, sharpen] [ant: blear, blur]
5: make (images or sounds) sharp or sharper [ant: soften]
6: raise the pitch of (musical notes) [ant: drop, flatten]
7: give a point to; "The candles are tapered" [syn: sharpen, taper, point]
8: make (one's senses) more acute; "This drug will sharpen your vision" [syn: sharpen, heighten]

Merriam Webster's

verb (sharpened; sharpening) Date: 15th century transitive verb to make sharp or sharper; especially hone intransitive verb to become sharp or sharper • sharpener noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. & intr. make or become sharp. Derivatives: sharpener n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sharpen Sharp"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sarpened; p. pr. & vb. n. Sharpening.] [See Sharp, a.] To make sharp. Specifically: (a) To give a keen edge or fine point to; to make sharper; as, to sharpen an ax, or the teeth of a saw. (b) To render more quick or acute in perception; to make more ready or ingenious. The air . . . sharpened his visual ray To objects distant far. --Milton. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. --Burke. (c) To make more eager; as, to sharpen men's desires. Epicurean cooks Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite. --Shak. (d) To make more pungent and intense; as, to sharpen a pain or disease. (e) To make biting, sarcastic, or severe. ``Sharpen each word.'' --E. Smith. (f) To render more shrill or piercing. Inclosures not only preserve sound, but increase and sharpen it. --Bacon. (g) To make more tart or acid; to make sour; as, the rays of the sun sharpen vinegar. (h) (Mus.) To raise, as a sound, by means of a sharp; to apply a sharp to.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sharpen Sharp"en, v. i. To grow or become sharp.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sharpens, sharpening, sharpened) 1. If your senses, understanding, or skills sharpen or are sharpened, you become better at noticing things, thinking, or doing something. Her gaze sharpened, as if she had seen something unusual... You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal. VERB: V, V n 2. If you sharpen an object, you make its edge very thin or you make its end pointed. He started to sharpen his knife. ...sharpened pencils. VERB: V n, V-ed 3. If disagreements or differences between people sharpen, or if they are sharpened, they become bigger or more important. With urbanisation the antagonism between rich and poor sharpened... The case of Harris has sharpened the debate over capital punishment. VERB: V, V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Edge, make keen, point. 2. Make eager. 3. Sharp, make shrill. 4. Intensify, make more intense.

Moby Thesaurus

accelerate, aculeate, acuminate, agent provocateur, aggravate, amplify, animate, annoy, augment, barb, beef up, blow up, build up, complicate, concentrate, condense, consolidate, cultivate, cuspidate, deepen, deteriorate, double, dress, edge, embitter, enhance, enlarge, enliven, exacerbate, exaggerate, exasperate, excite, exhilarate, file, fillip, galvanize, grind, heat up, heighten, hone, hop up, hot up, increase, infuse life into, instrument, intensify, invigorate, irritate, jazz up, key up, machine, magnify, make acute, make complex, make sensitive, make worse, mechanize, mill, motorize, oilstone, pick up, pique, point, provoke, quicken, ramify, redouble, refine, reinforce, renew, reset, resuscitate, retool, revive, sensibilize, sensitize, set, sharp, soup up, sour, spiculate, spur, step up, stimulate, stir, strap, strengthen, stroke, strop, taper, tool, triple, whet, worsen