Both Uses of
acute
in
The Great Gatsby
- There was something pathetic in his concentration, as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more.
p. 13.6 *acute = severely negative
- Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven — a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax.†
p. 6.1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(acute as in: acute pain) sharp (severe or strong) -- usually negative
-
(2)
(acute as in: acute sense of smell) sharp (highly perceptive in some area or mentally sharp)
-
(3)
(acute angle as in: an acute angle) ending in a narrow point or angle; or describing an angle measuring less than 90 degrees
- (4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)