Acute

This page is not about the diacritic character; see acute accent for more information.

Acute, in geometry, refers to an angle that is less than ninety degrees.

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Acute, in medicine, refers to an intense illness or affliction of abrupt onset. This term refers to timescale of a disease and is often contrasted with subacute and chronic course. Examples:

• acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• acute pancreatitis
• acute abdomen
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)