Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make or become sharp or sharper.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make sharp or sharper; render more acute, keen, eager, active, intensive, quick, biting, severe, tart, etc.: as, to sharpen a sword or a knife; to sharpen the appetite; to sharpen vinegar.
- In music, same as sharp, v., 2.
- To make something sharp; put a keen edge or sharp point on something.
- To grow or become sharp.
- In music, same as sharp.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To make sharp
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To give a keen edge or fine point to; to make sharper.
- v. To render more quick or acute in perception; to make more ready or ingenious.
- v. To make more eager.
- v. To make more pungent and intense.
- v. To make biting, sarcastic, or severe.
- v. To render more shrill or piercing.
- v. To make more tart or acid; to make sour.
- v. (Mus.) To raise, as a sound, by means of a sharp; to apply a sharp to.
- v. To grow or become sharp.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make (images or sounds) sharp or sharper
- v. make sharp or sharper
- v. make (one's senses) more acute
- v. make crisp or more crisp and precise
- v. give a point to
- v. put (an image) into focus
- v. become sharp or sharper
- v. raise the pitch of (musical notes)
Etymologies
- sharp + -en (Wiktionary)
Examples
“On opposite sides of the country today, the presumptive presidential nominees will once again sharpen their positions on how to manage the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan if elected.”
The Early Word: 2 Candidates, 2 Visions for Iraq - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com
“I asked, feeling my vague dislike for that particular name sharpen up to something dangerously like hatred.”
“I 'sharpen' my hunting knife with a Lansky stone set but I don't with my butcher knives, they're just too long bladed and wear out the stones.”
“This site actually tries to "sharpen" the noise and improve the information signal.”
“DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We've really seen the president kind of sharpen his tone this week.”
“And just looking back at the whole situation, I think that it was such a hard time for me, but I - The reason that I felt it was necessary is because it really made me kind of sharpen up and realign.”
“WHITFIELD: And, and you also hear the argument that as they tried to, you know, kind of sharpen their positions, what they're also doing is sharpening a divide, a divide among Democrats and maybe even Independents?”
“The road is slippery on the high ground hard by, and it is debated at Lisselan House whether the farrier of the Dragoon Guards shall not be asked to "sharpen" the shoes of the animals employed there, for no local workman will touch them.”
Disturbed Ireland Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81.
“But there is nothing paradoxical about all this, for the Yogis, while preaching the folly of sense life, and manifesting the teaching in their lives, nevertheless believe in any and all exercises calculated to "sharpen" the Mind, and develop it to a keen state and condition.”
“Unlike the "sharpen" control on TVs, which also adds visual noise to the picture, the”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sharpen’.
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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Suffix -en
-en
verb: to cause, to become
adjective: materialglisten, hasten, heighten, lengthen, mositen, silken, sharpen, sweeten, woolen, woven, moisten, darken and 4 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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kingrat47's Words
procrustean, devolution, cacophony, hippopotamus, crunch, beware, chortled, sibilant, subtle, undermine, acromegaly, acropolis and 645 more...
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Poetrie: "For I Will Consider My Cat ...
An excerpt from Jubilate Agno, written by Christopher Smart between 1759 and 1763 during his confinement for "lunacy" at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethnal Green, London.
For I will...consider, cat, jeoffry, servant, living god, duly, worship, wreathing, elegant quickness, leaps up, musk, blessing and 145 more...
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eloise's Words
embrace, perfect, imagine, dance, water, color, echo, hollow, sorrow, beauty, impossible, violet and 438 more...
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Vocabulary 3
desperate, trial, swerve, flower-pot, bracelet, pendant, drawer, plug, socket, cast, fluorescent tube, case and 55 more...
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Photography-related
Good for my image....
monochrome, sepia, silhouette, fish eye, telephoto, focus, depth of field, aperture, shutter speed, tripod, monopod, saturation and 37 more...
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New Words
New Words - Building my own vocabulary
brownfield, greenfield, behalf, pet peeve, lead time, mock, proxy, craftsman, cliff, Nimble, Awkward, craftsmanship and 85 more...
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-en
For the suffix -en
hasten, heighten, lengthen, moisten, silken, sweeten, sharpen, woolen, woven, glisten
Tweets
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