sharply
/ˈʃɑɹpli/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.89 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The stick was sharply tapered at one end."
- "When I touched the snake it recoiled sharply."
- "The economy has slowed to a pale shadow of its growth in recent years; inflation is high, the currency is declining sharply against the dollar — but the expectations of Brazilians have rarely been higher, feeding broad intolerance with corruption, bad schools and other government failings."
- "a sharply focused essay"
- "Jones, the centre forward, started the game sharply."
- "Walters tried a long range shot in the third minute as he opened the game sharply, linking well with Robbie Keane, but goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko gathered the ball with ease."
Etymology
From Middle English sharply, scharply, from Old English sċearplīċe (“sharply, smartly”), equivalent to sharp + -ly.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sharply, sċearplīċe
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈʃɑɹpli/
- British English: /ˈʃɑːpli/
Inflected Forms
sharplier (comparative)
more sharply (comparative)
sharpliest (superlative)
most sharply (superlative)