1.
You can use ~ to indicate that an undesirable situation or feeling is very severe or intense.
The report has caused ~ embarrassment to the government...
The labour shortage is becoming ~.
= severe
ADJ
2.
An ~ illness is one that becomes severe very quickly but does not last very long. Compare chronic . (MEDICAL)
...a patient with ~ rheumatoid arthritis.
ADJ: ADJ n
3.
If a person’s or animal’s sight, hearing, or sense of smell is ~, it is sensitive and powerful.
In the dark my sense of hearing becomes so ~.
= keen
ADJ
4.
An ~ angle is less than 90°. Compare obtuse angle.
ADJ
5.
An ~ accent is a symbol that is placed over vowels in some languages in order to indicate how that vowel is pronounced or over one letter in a word to indicate where it is stressed. You refer to a letter with this accent as, for example, e ~. For example, there is an ~ accent over the letter ‘e’ in the French word ‘cafe’.
ADJ: ADJ n, n ADJ