acuire

to sharpen

verb ah-koo-EE-reh Rare

Origin: Latin acuere, from acus ('needle').

Also means

to intensify

Usage Note

Acuire means to sharpen or make more acute — used both literally (acuire la vista, 'to sharpen one's sight') and figuratively (acuire la crisi, 'to intensify the crisis'). It is a third-conjugation verb with an irregular stem in the present: acuisco, acuisci, acuisce, acuiamo, acuite, acuiscono. It takes avere as auxiliary.

Examples

"L'isolamento ha acuito la sua sensibilità artistica."

Natural Translation

Isolation sharpened his artistic sensitivity.

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