SHARPENED

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sharpened mean? 

• SHARPENED (adjective)
  The adjective SHARPENED has 2 senses:

1. having the point made sharp

2. made sharp or sharper

  Familiarity information: SHARPENED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHARPENED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having the point made sharp

Context example:

a sharpened pencil

Similar:

pointed (having a point)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Made sharp or sharper

Context example:

a sharpened knife cuts more cleanly

Similar:

sharp (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing)

 Context examples 

I told you she took everything, herself included, to a grindstone, and sharpened it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and was sharpened to a fine point.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

On the table in the window were several shreds from a pencil which had been sharpened.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It mastered it in you (you cannot deny it), because a crazy Cockney cook sharpened a knife.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A cutting device usually consisting of a sharpened blade attached to a handle.

(Knife Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

There was a hunting trophy in the hall, and from it I took a straight heavy knife which I sharpened upon my boot.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The post in the center, some nine feet long, was sharpened at the upper end, and was black with the stale blood of the creatures who had been impaled upon it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Spitzer data increased scientists' confidence that TOI 700 d is a real planet and sharpened their measurements of its orbital period by 56% and its size by 38%.

(NASA Planet Hunter Finds Earth-Size Habitable-Zone World, NASA)

His whole face sharpened away into nose and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his outstanding bones.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)