sharpen
pronunciation
How to pronounce sharpen in British English:
UK [ˈʃɑːpən]
How to pronounce sharpen in American English:
US [ˈʃɑːrpən]
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- Verb:
- make sharp or sharper
- make sharp or sharper
- become sharp or sharper
- put (an image) into focus
- make (images or sounds) sharp or sharper
- raise the pitch of (musical notes)
- give a point to
- make (one's senses) more acute
Word Origin
- sharpen (v.)
- 1520s, "bring to an edge or point," from sharp (adj.) + -en (1). Related: Sharpened; sharpening. Old English verb scearpian meant "to score, scarify;" also compare scearpung "scarifying." To sharpen (one's) pencil "prepare to get to work" is from 1957, American English.
Example
- 1. That is unsurprising , but will sharpen the debate about the future of america 's nuclear presence in europe .
- 2. The move is likely to sharpen the already intense competition between google and microsoft , whose windows operating system controls the basic functions of the vast majority of personal computers .
- 3. Facebook 's moves sharpen the battle lines between the social networking giant and google , the search giant , because facebook is trying to change the way people find what they want online .
- 4. But as the chill winds of austerity blow away the affluence and optimism of the boom years before the credit crunch , relations between rich and poor look set to sharpen as sky-high property prices and the inflated cost of goods in shops make life increasingly difficult and inaccessible for poor people in the capital .
- 5. On the contrary , any signs that washington wants to intimidate the middle kingdom will only sharpen nationalist and xenophobic tendencies .