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SHARPENED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Made sharp or sharper
Example:
a sharpened knife cuts more cleanly
Classified under:
Similar:
sharp (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having the point made sharp
Example:
a sharpened pencil
Classified under:
Similar:
pointed (having a point)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb sharpen
Context examples:
Therefore it was decided to start upon their journey the next morning, and the Woodman sharpened his axe on a green grindstone and had all his joints properly oiled.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Amongst the most violent against him was Mrs. Bennet, whose dislike of his general behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his having slighted one of her daughters.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Being decidedly nettled herself, and longing to see him shake off the apathy that so altered him, Amy sharpened both tongue and pencil, and began.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
It is my custom, dearling, and hath been since I have first known thee, to proclaim by herald in such camps, townships, or fortalices as I may chance to visit, that my lady-love, being beyond compare the fairest and sweetest in Christendom, I should deem it great honor and kindly condescension if any cavalier would run three courses against me with sharpened lances, should he chance to have a lady whose claim he was willing to advance.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I have more than once observed that in my second character, my faculties seemed sharpened to a point and my spirits more tensely elastic; thus it came about that, where Jekyll perhaps might have succumbed, Hyde rose to the importance of the moment.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He asked me, what my thoughts and speculations were, while I lay in the monkey’s paw; how I liked the victuals he gave me; his manner of feeding; and whether the fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Thus relieved of a grievous load, I from that hour set to work afresh, resolved to pioneer my way through every difficulty: I toiled hard, and my success was proportionate to my efforts; my memory, not naturally tenacious, improved with practice; exercise sharpened my wits; in a few weeks I was promoted to a higher class; in less than two months I was allowed to commence French and drawing.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“Clever! She brings everything to a grindstone,” said Steerforth, and sharpens it, as she has sharpened her own face and figure these years past.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Its jaws were pried apart to their greatest extension, and a stout stake, sharpened at both ends, was so inserted that when the pries were removed the spread jaws were fixed upon it.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
This part of his intelligence, though unheard by Lydia, was caught by Elizabeth, and, as it assured her that Darcy was not less answerable for Wickham's absence than if her first surmise had been just, every feeling of displeasure against the former was so sharpened by immediate disappointment, that she could hardly reply with tolerable civility to the polite inquiries which he directly afterwards approached to make.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
