acute

01. His ear infection caused him [acute] pain.

02. A dolphin's hearing is so [acute] that it can hear underwater sounds from up to 15 miles away.

03. Drinking coffee can sharpen one's mental [acuity] for short periods of time.

04. The country is experiencing an [acute] economic crisis due to the collapse in the price of coffee.

05. The shortage of fresh water in this country is becoming [acute] due to the long drought.

06. The old woman has been hospitalized with an [acute] case of pneumonia, and doctors fear she may not make it through the night.

07. Many people seem to think that those who are blind have a more [acute] sense of smell or touch.

08. We were [acutely] aware of the presence of the military from the moment we stepped off the plane.

09. Sonya has an [acute] mind and picks things up very quickly.

10. Many birds of prey have a visual [acuity] which is much greater than that of humans.

11. Current estimates suggest that ten percent of [acute]-care hospital beds are occupied by inappropriately placed elderly patients.

12. The fact that unmarried women who bear children are now more likely to keep them has resulted in an [acute] shortage of adoptable babies.

13. In past centuries, mortality was high for three main reasons: [acute] and chronic food shortage, epidemic disease, and poor public-health standards.

14. William Lyon Phelps once suggested that one of the secrets of life is to keep our intellectual curiosity [acute].

15. Agatha Christie once said, "I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, [acutely] miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."

16. Patients arriving at the hospital emergency ward are not necessarily treated in order of arrival, but rather according to the [acuity] of their condition.