I keep my knives sharp so that they don't slip unexpectedly while carving.
2. adj. (colloquial) Intelligent.
My nephew is a sharp lad; he can count to 100 in six languages, and he's only five years old.
3. adj. Terminating in a point or edge; not obtuse or rounded.
Ernest made the pencil too sharp and accidentally stabbed himself with it.
a sharp hill; a face with sharp features
4. adj. (music) Higher than usual by one semitone (denoted by the symbol ♯ after the name of the note).
5. adj. (music) Higher in pitch than required.
The orchestra's third violin several times was sharp about an eighth of a tone.
6. adj. Having an intense, acrid flavour.
Milly couldn't stand sharp cheeses when she was pregnant, because they made her nauseated.
7. adj. Sudden and intense.
A pregnant woman during labor normally experiences a number of sharp contractions.
8. adj. (colloquial) Illegal or dishonest.
Michael had a number of sharp ventures that he kept off the books.
9. adj. (colloquial) Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interests; shrewd.
a sharp dealer; a sharp customer
10. adj. Exact, precise, accurate; keen.
You'll need sharp aim to make that shot.
11. adj. Offensive, critical, or acrimonious.
sharp criticism; When the two rivals met, first there were sharp words, and then a fight broke out.
12. adj. (colloquial) Stylish or attractive.
You look so sharp in that tuxedo!
13. adj. Observant; alert; acute.
Keep a sharp watch on the prisoners. I don't want them to escape!
14. adj. Forming a small angle; especially, forming an angle of less than ninety degrees.
Drive down Main for three quarters of a mile, then make a sharp right turn onto Pine.
15. adj. Steep; precipitous; abrupt.
a sharp ascent or descent; a sharp turn or curve
16. adj. (mathematics, of a statement) Said of as extreme a value as possible.
Sure, any planar graph can be five-colored. But that result is not sharp: in fact, any planar graph can be four-colored. That is sharp: the same can't be said for any lower number.
17. adj. (chess) Tactical; risky.
18. adj. Piercing; keen; severe; painful.
a sharp pain; the sharp and frosty winter air
19. adj. Eager or keen in pursuit; impatient for gratification.
21. adj. Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty.
22. adj. (phonetics, dated) Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone; aspirated; unvoiced.
23. adv. To a point or edge; piercingly; eagerly; sharply.
24. adv. (notcomp) Exactly.
I'll see you at twelve o'clock sharp.
25. adv. (music) In a higher pitch than is correct or desirable.
I didn't enjoy the concert much because the tenor kept going sharp on the high notes.
26. n. (music) 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 a 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.
27. n. (music) A note that is played a semitone higher than usual; denoted by the name of the note that is followed by the symbol ♯.
28. n. (music) 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.
29. n. (music) The scale having a particular sharp note as its tonic.
Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" is written in C♯ minor (C sharp minor.)
30. n. (usually in the plural) Something that is sharp.
Place sharps in the specially marked red container for safe disposal.
31. n. A sharp tool or weapon.
32. n. (medicine) A hypodermic syringe.
33. n. (medicine, dated) A scalpel or other edged instrument used in surgery.
34. n. A dishonest person; a cheater.
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 variant spelling of shark, and unrelated to the 'pointed' or 'cutting' meanings of sharp.
35. n. Part of a stream where the water runs very rapidly.
36. n. A sewing needle with a very slender point, more pointed than a blunt or a between.
37. n. (in the plural) Fine particles of husk mixed with coarse particle of flour of cereals; middlings.
38. n. (slang) An expert.
39. n. A sharpie (member of Australian gangs of the 1960s and 1970s).
40. v. (music) 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!
41. v. To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.
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