sharpen
/ˈʃɑːp(ə)n
/verb
1Make or become sharp or sharper: [with object]: she sharpened her pencil [no object]: her tone sharpened...
- I have a feeling he's sharpening his pencil and pulling out the classified ads right about now.
- It's never too early to start sharpening the insults and perfecting the ad hominem attacks.
- At this very moment, exam markers are sharpening their red pencils to ring such sloppiness.
Synonyms
make sharp/sharper, hone, whet, strop, grind, file
rare edge, acuminate
2 (sharpen up or sharpen something up) Improve or cause to improve: they’ve got to sharpen up in front of the goal students will sharpen up their reading skills...
- The game isn't due out until the first quarter of 2006 so we'll see if things have been sharpened up by then.
- If you think that the exterior lines have been sharpened up, just wait until you drop into the cabin.
- His adaptation retains the honesty and lyricism of the book but sharpens it up into a riveting confessional stream of crackling, dinner conversation-sharp dialogue.
Synonyms
improve, brush up, polish up, better, enhance;
hone, refine, fine-tune, perfect
Derivatives
sharpener
/ noun ...- These come in various forms from little hand-operated sharpeners at about $20 to fully self-contained units with their own motors that will also sharpen your chisels, scissors and knives.
- I used to carry the bench and tools on my shoulder like other knife sharpeners you see in the street.
- Knife sharpeners and rubbish collectors advertised their services in musical calls.