Definition of Sharpen

Sharpen

To make sharp.

To give a keen edge or fine point to; to make sharper; as, to sharpen an ax, or the teeth of a saw.

To render more quick or acute in perception; to make more ready or ingenious.

To make more eager; as, to sharpen men's desires.

To make more pungent and intense; as, to sharpen a pain or disease.

To make biting, sarcastic, or severe.

To render more shrill or piercing.

To make more tart or acid; to make sour; as, the rays of the sun sharpen vinegar.

To raise, as a sound, by means of a sharp; to apply a sharp to.

To grow or become sharp.

Related Definitions:

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Sharpen Quotations

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.
Confucius

Within each individual young person you meet, you have the same fields to plow. The trick is just to wake thmem up, to sharpen their ears for what's already there in the music.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Great literature should do some good to the reader: must quicken his perception though dull, and sharpen his discrimination though blunt, and mellow the rawness of his personal opinions.
A. E. Housman

About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.
Edsger Dijkstra

The theater, for me, has always been a place where I'm free to be more creative, a place to sharpen my tools.
Ethan Hawke

You can work hard to sharpen your talent, to get better at whatever it is that you do, and I think that's what it comes back to.
Ed Bradley

Let the master praise him, and say, "Here ye do well." For, I assure you, there is no such whetstone to sharpen a good wit, and encourage a will to learning, as is praise.
Roger Ascham

God has been faithful time and again to surround me with people that sharpen me and that make me better.
TobyMac

There is no such whetstone, to sharpen a good wit and encourage a will to learning, as is praise.
Roger Ascham

More Sharpen Quotations

Sharpen Translations

sharpen in Dutch is aanzetten, scherpen, slijpen
sharpen in Italian is acuire, trascinare
sharpen in Spanish is afilar, aguzar

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