sharpen
part of speech
verb (sharpen, sharpens, sharpened, sharpening)
meaning for a pupil
1) To sharpen something is to make its edge or point sharper, like sharpening a pencil or a knife. tree →
2) To sharpen a skill is to make it better by practice. tree →
3) When a picture, sound or feeling sharpens, it becomes clearer or stronger. tree →
sense in the lessons
At school children sharpen pencils with a sharpener; in the kitchen adults sharpen knives (a safety job for grown-ups). Teachers say «sharpen your maths skills» or «sharpen your mind». Phrases: «sharpen a pencil», «sharpen up», «pencil sharpener».
examples
- Please sharpen your pencil before the test. tree →
- Dad sharpens the kitchen knives on a stone. tree →
- Practising every day will sharpen your spelling. tree →
- The eagle's eyes are sharp; it doesn't need to sharpen them! tree →
- The picture sharpened when I turned the lens. tree →
- I need to sharpen my coloured pencils. tree →
- Quiz games help sharpen your memory. tree →
- The beaver sharpened the end of the stick with its teeth. tree →
- Then he sat down and began sharpening his knife again. tree →
note
Regular verb: past «sharpened». It comes from sharp + -en, which means «make more». The tool is a «sharpener». Safety: only adults should sharpen knives, and a sharpened knife cuts more easily, so handle it with care.
In the corpora
- Small AI programs hide in everyday things, such as phone cameras that sharpen photos and blur backgrounds.
- Staying calm helps you think; panic does not sharpen your focus.
- They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent; vipers' venom is under their lips.
- Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sharpen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.