Skip to main content
acute angle

acute angle

1 2.8
An angle that is less than 90 degrees
  • noun
  • /əˈkjut ˈæŋɡəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ángulo agudo
  • We don't know and we know that DBC is an acute angle, but we don't know what the measurement is of each one of these.

Examples

  • In real-life scenarios, students will need to be able to measure and calculate shapes containing a variety of obtuse and acute angles.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Maybe in more linear algebra terms it makes you know it makes an acute angle with your gradient.

  • So this is going to be our acute angle between these two lines.

  • When you make an acute angle, something like this.

  • Now it's also possible for us to have three acute angles that are equal in measure, right?

  • These are the acute angles between the curves.

  • If one acute angle is two times larger than the other, what's the measure of the two angles?

  • So you've got this weird acute angle on the inside.

  • If the normal line is in the plane of the screen, that's an acute angle, right?

  • The two walls met to form an acute angle in the corner of the room.

Antonyms

obtuse angle
  • Specialized
1 3.4

An angle that is more than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees

How Small

acute angle
  • Specialized
1 2.8
right angle
  • Specialized
16 2.4
obtuse angle
  • Specialized
1 3.4

Surface Forms

acute angle singular
acute angles plural

Morphology

acute + angle

The meaning is directly compositional: 'acute' (meaning sharp/small) modifies 'angle' so it denotes a relatively small angle (less than 90°). This is a standard, cross-linguistically similar mathematical term, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reliably infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Acute angle may come from an old word meaning 'sharp' or 'pointed'. The word acute describes a small, sharp corner of an angle. So an acute angle is one that is less than 90 degrees.