Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔪 To make sharp 🔍 To make clearer 🎵 To raise pitch
to sharpen

to sharpen

1 4.1
To raise the pitch of a musical note by one small step
  • verb
  • /ˈʃɑːrpən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : elevar un semitono
  • So after you get to the F, sharpen the bass and C tritone.

So after you get to the F, sharpen the bass and C tritone.

Examples

  • Whale stands at a drafting table, sharpening a pencil.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • In music class, the teacher showed us how to sharpen a note by increasing its pitch.

  • The number one thing you can do to sharpen your voice is to read fiction daily.

  • Dog picks up a steel for sharpening knives and throws it across the room.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • To improve the harmony, you need to sharpen that note slightly.

  • I learned that you can sharpen your singing by adjusting the tone of your voice.

Synonyms

to tune
vsto sharpen
163 1.8

Adjust an instrument so it plays the correct notes

raises pitch by exactly one semitone rather than general pitch adjustment
to retune
vsto sharpen
1 4.5

Adjust a musical instrument so it sounds in tune

alters a single note upward by a semitone rather than changing whole settings
to tonify
vsto sharpen
  • Specialized
9.6

To make a voice or instrument sound clearer and fuller

changes pitch upward by a semitone, focusing on pitch not tone quality

Antonyms

to flatten
  • Specialized
6.8

Lower a musical note by a half step

Phrasal Verbs

to sharpen focus
4.0

To make your attention clearer and stronger

to sharpen skills
3.9

To get better at a skill by practising

to sharpen someone's mind
5.0

To help someone think more clearly and quickly

How High

to transpose
  • Specialized
1 7.2
to sharpen
  • Specialized
1 4.1
to raise
  • Specialized
3 9.1
to tune
163 1.8
to lower
802 1.0

Surface Forms

sharpen infinitive
sharpened past
sharpened past participle
sharpening present participle
sharpens third person singular

Morphology

sharpen = sharp (semi-transparent) = sharp + en

The musical sense ('raise pitch by a semitone') is a conventional, domain-specific extension of 'sharp' and so only partially transparent to general learners.

Etymology

Sharpen in music comes from sharp, which means 'a little higher' in sound, so to sharpen a note is to raise it slightly in pitch.