ACUITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does acuity mean? 

• ACUITY (noun)
  The noun ACUITY has 2 senses:

1. sharpness of vision; the visual ability to resolve fine detail (usually measured by a Snellen chart)

2. a quick and penetrating intelligence

  Familiarity information: ACUITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACUITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sharpness of vision; the visual ability to resolve fine detail (usually measured by a Snellen chart)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

acuity; sharp-sightedness; visual acuity

Hypernyms ("acuity" is a kind of...):

sight; vision; visual modality; visual sense (the ability to see; the visual faculty)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acuity"):

20/20; twenty-twenty (normal visual acuity, as measured by the ability to read charts at a distance of 20 feet)

oxyopia (unusually acute vision)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A quick and penetrating intelligence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

acuity; acuteness; keenness; sharpness

Context example:

I admired the keenness of his mind

Hypernyms ("acuity" is a kind of...):

intelligence (the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acuity"):

steel trap (an acute intelligence (an analogy based on the well-known sharpness of steel traps))

 Context examples 

Clinical manifestations include decreased visual acuity; EXOPHTHALMOS; NYSTAGMUS; STRABISMUS; pallor or swelling of the optic disc; and INTRACRANIAL HYPERTENSION.

(Optic Nerve Glioma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Vision considered to be inferior to normal vision as represented by accepted standards of acuity, field of vision, or motility.

(Partial Sight, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Cones are less sensitive to light than rods, but they provide vision with higher spatial and temporal acuity, and the combination of signals from cones with different pigments allows color vision.

(Cone, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

This results in a decrease in visual acuity and eventual blindness if untreated.

(Cataract, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)

Partial or complete opacity of the crystalline lens of one or both eyes that decreases visual acuity and eventually results in blindness.

(Cataract, NCI Thesaurus)

Partial or complete opacity of the crystalline lens of both eyes that decreases visual acuity and eventually results in blindness.

(Bilateral Cataracts, NCI Thesaurus)

Blurred vision is the loss of visual acuity (sharpness of vision) resulting in a loss of ability to see small details.

(Blurred Vision, NCI Thesaurus)

The consequences of the increased pressure may be manifested in a variety of symptoms, depending upon type and severity, such as excavation of the optic disk, hardness of the eyeball, corneal anesthesia, reduced visual acuity, seeing of colored halos around lights, disturbed dark adaptation, visual field defects, and headaches.

(Glaucoma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)