sharp – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of sharp

Adjective: sharp

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparativesharper
Superlativesharpest

Perifrastic

Sample Sentences

  • I keep my knives sharp so that they don't slip unexpectedly while carving.
  • Ernest made the pencil too sharp and accidentally stabbed himself with it.
  • a face with sharp features
  • Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill. [1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:]
  • If a knife which is sharp is incorrectly used it will obviously be dangerous. [1984, Michael Grater, Paper Mask Making, →ISBN, page 55:]
  • Fifteen children reported handling curvos, five machetes, and one a sharp knife used to cut yellow leaves off the banana plants. [2002, Carol Pier, Tainted Harvest, →ISBN:]
  • Yet, review of 25 years of English language literature on the subject of sharp force injury adds remarkably little to this topic. Sharp force covers a vast array of injuries produced with sharp objects capable of cutting or stabbing or both. [2006, Werner U. Spitz, Daniel J. Spitz, Russell S. Fisher, Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death, →ISBN:]
  • My nephew is a sharp lad; he can count to 100 in six languages, and he's only five years old.
  • At school, despite his sharp mind, Malcolm was laughed at by teachers when he said he wanted to be a lawyer. [2015 February 20, Jesse Jackson, “In the Ferguson era, Malcolm X’s courage in fighting racism inspires more than ever”, in The Guardian (London):]
  • The orchestra's third violin several times was sharp about an eighth of a tone.
  • Milly couldn't stand sharp cheeses when she was pregnant, because they made her nauseated.
  • This grapefruit is especially sharp.
  • A pregnant woman during labor normally experiences a number of sharp contractions.
  • The man turned and made a sharp movement towards the door.
  • She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, […] [1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter II (Burglary), page 378, column 1:]
  • Michael had a number of sharp ventures that he kept off the books.
  • a sharp dealer, a sharp customer, sharp practice
  • But, as they have hitherto stood, a clergyman established in a competent living is not under the necessity of being so sharp, vigilant, and exacting. [1732, Jonathan Swift, Considerations Upon Two Bills:]
  • You'll need sharp aim to make that shot.
  • Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale. [2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:]
  • sharp criticism
  • When the two rivals met, first there were sharp words, and then a fight broke out.
  • The reviews have ranged from excellent (In Touch, Jan 76, and Gay Literature, Winter 76) to qualified praise (GCN, 6 Mar 76) to sharp attack (Allen Young in the current Gay Liberator; Allen calls it trivial and misogynist. [1976 August 14, John Mitzel, Richard Hall, “The Whodunit Writer: Why He Dun It”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 7, page 7:]
  • You look so sharp in that tuxedo!
  • A sharp dresser partial to snakeskin shoes whose miniature Australian shepherd dog Saatchi is a constant fixture on family outings, [Donald] Tang's next move was to reinvent himself as a dealmaker connecting China with Hollywood amid growing demand for entertainment content in both countries. [2024 July 13, Laura Onita, Eleanor Olcott, “Shein’s master of reinvention treads tricky path to IPO”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11:]
  • Keep a sharp watch on the prisoners. I don't want them to escape!
  • Jones, the centre forward, made a sharp start to the game.
  • a sharp contrast, a sharp distinction
  • Paradoxically, the sharp and unambiguous formulas in which Lenin called for the use of terror and denied the possibility of democracy and freedom testified to the fact that freedom had not yet been completely eradicated. [1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 508:]
  • Drive down Main for three quarters of a mile, then make a sharp right turn onto Pine.
  • a sharp turn or curve
  • The street down which Warwick had come intersected Front Street at a sharp angle in front of the old hotel, forming a sort of flatiron block at the junction, known as Liberty Point [1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:]
  • a sharp ascent or descent
  • 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.
  • Time and time again, the amateur player has lost the opportunity to make the really best move because he felt bound to follow some chess "rule" he had learned, rather than to make the sharp move which was indicated by the position. [1963, Max Euwe, Chess Master Vs. Chess Amateur, page xviii:]
  • In such situations most chess players choose the obvious and logical way: they go in for sharp play. However, not everyone is a natural attacking player[…] [1975, Luděk Pachman, Decisive Games in Chess History, page 64:]
  • a sharp pain; the sharp and frosty winter air
  • Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. [c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:]
  • The night was Winter in his roughest mood; the morning sharp and clear. [1785, William Cowper, The Task: The Winter Walk at Noon:]
  • In sharpest perils faithful proved, Let his soul love thee to the end. [1867, John Keble, “St. Peter's Release”, in J.G.Holland, editor, Christ and the Twelve: Scenes and Events in the Life of Our Saviour and His Apostles, page 424:]
  • a sharp appetite
  • And fear of God, from whom their piety feign'd In sharp contest of battle found no aid Against invaders [1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:]
  • A sharp assault already is begun; [1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperor: Act III:]
  • Well-burnt good lime and sharp sand, if very sharp, a load of sand (about 36 bushels) to a hundred of lime (being 25 bushels, or a hundred pecks[…] [1700, Edward Moxon, Mechanical Exercises:]
  • “[W]hy this last week we ha'n't had nothing at all but some dry musty red herrings; so you may think, Miss, we're kept pretty sharp!” [1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.1:]
  • “[…] It’s child’s play to find the stuff now. I’ve half a mind to dine first.”
  • “I don’t feel sharp,” growled Morgan. [1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:]

Adjectives inflected like sharp

sallow, smooth, slight, sleigh, sordid, somber, shweet, shrill, shrewd, yellow, yaller, hard knock, DRY, Greek, cut short, unquiet, unclean, indiscreet, chipper, straicht, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)

Etymology

1. From Middle English scharp, from Old English sċearp, from Proto-West Germanic *skarp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-, from *(s)ker- (“to cut”).
2. Cognate with West Frisian skerp, Low German scherp, scharp, schaarp, Dutch scherp, German scharf, Danish skarp. Compare Irish cearb (“keen; cutting”), Latin acerbus (“tart, bitter”), Tocharian B kärpye (“rough”), Latvian skârbs (“sharp, rough”), Russian щерба (ščerba, “notch”), Polish szczerba (“gap, dent, jag, chip, nick, notch”), Albanian harb (“rudeness”). More at shear. See: Dutch Adjectives 'scherp', German Adjectives 'scharf', Latin Adjectives 'acerbus'.

Verbs referencing "sharp"

German Adjectives scharf, Catalan Adjectives esquerp.