SHARPNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sharpness mean? 

• SHARPNESS (noun)
  The noun SHARPNESS has 7 senses:

1. a quick and penetrating intelligence

2. the attribute of urgency in tone of voice

3. a strong odor or taste property

4. the quality of being keenly and painfully felt

5. thinness of edge or fineness of point

6. the quality of being sharp and clear

7. harshness of manner

  Familiarity information: SHARPNESS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHARPNESS (noun)

Sense 1

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 ("sharpness" is a kind of...):

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

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

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

Derivation:

sharp (marked by practical hardheaded intelligence)

sharp (having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The attribute of urgency in tone of voice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

edge; sharpness

Context example:

his voice had an edge to it

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

urgency (pressing importance requiring speedy action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A strong odor or taste property

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bite; pungency; raciness; sharpness

Context example:

the raciness of the wine

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

spice; spicery; spiciness (the property of being seasoned with spice and so highly flavored)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The quality of being keenly and painfully felt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the sharpness of her loss

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

distressingness; painfulness (the quality of being painful)

Derivation:

sharp (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point)

sharp (quick and forceful)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Thinness of edge or fineness of point

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

keenness; sharpness

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

configuration; conformation; contour; form; shape (any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline))

Attribute:

sharp (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing)

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

acuteness (the quality of having a sharp edge or point)

Antonym:

dullness (without sharpness or clearness of edge or point)

Derivation:

sharp (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing)

sharp (ending in a sharp point)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The quality of being sharp and clear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

distinctness; sharpness

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

clarity; clearness; uncloudedness (the quality of clear water)

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

definition (clarity of outline)

discernability; legibility (distinctness that makes perception easy)

focus (maximum clarity or distinctness of an image rendered by an optical system)

Antonym:

softness (the quality of being indistinct and without sharp outlines)

Derivation:

sharp ((of something seen or heard) clearly defined)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Harshness of manner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

asperity; sharpness

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

ill nature (a disagreeable, irritable, or malevolent disposition)

Antonym:

dullness (without sharpness or clearness of edge or point)

Derivation:

sharp (harsh)

 Context examples 

"Kiche!" the man cried again, this time with sharpness and authority.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

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)

Thanks to Hubble's exquisite sharpness, the photo unveils the effect of space warping due to gravity.

(NASA’s Hubble Looks to the Final Frontier, NASA)

Since then, only Hubble has had the sharpness in blue light to track these elusive features that have played a game of peek-a-boo over the years.

(Hubble Sees Neptune's Mysterious Shrinking Storm, NASA)

His body was absolutely corpulent, but his face, though massive, had preserved something of the sharpness of expression which was so remarkable in that of his brother.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sharpness of the Hubble images allowed the research team to separate the background source star and the lensing star from their neighbors in the very crowded star field.

(Hubble Finds Planet Orbiting Pair of Stars, NASA)

The resolute and unrelenting hatred of her tone, its cold stern sharpness, and its mastered rage, presented her before me, as if I had seen her standing in the light.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was no mistaking the poise of the head, the squareness of the shoulders, the sharpness of the features.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Indian summer had dreamed on and on, and then, suddenly, with the sharpness of bugles, winter came.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He was at home here, and he held his own royally in the badinage, bristling with slang and sharpness, that was always the preliminary to getting acquainted in these swift-moving affairs.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)