sharpen
/ˈʃɑːpən/US/ˈʃɑɹpən/
sharpen verb: to make sharp.
Verb
sharpen (third-person singular simple present sharpens, present participle sharpening, simple past and past participle sharpened)
- To make sharp.
- to sharpen a pencil or a knife or a musical note
- He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC
- To become sharp.
- The organizers said they had found themselves "more involved in the web of social convulsions and violence that is tormenting our country. The present economic crisis, the grave political instability and the rapidly sharpening violence have finally overtaken […] our wishes.1990 February 4, Jennie McKnight, “Peruvian Politics Threaten Encuentro”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 2
sharpen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sharpen in Hindi
- to make sharp
- पैना करना painā karnā
sharpen in Tamil
- to make sharp
- சீவு cīvu
sharpen in Marathi
- धारदार करण्यासाठी
sharpen in Urdu
- تیز کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
- sharpen in Bengali
- ধারালো করা, তীক্ষ্ণ করতে
- sharpen in Telugu
- పదునుపెట్టు padunupeṭṭu
- sharpen in Malayalam
- കൂർപ്പിക്കുക, മൂർച്ചവരുത്തുക, നിശിതമാക്കുക
- sharpen in Kannada
- ಬಸಿ, ತೀಡು, ಮಸೆ, ಕೂರಮಾಡು
- sharpen in Punjabi
- ڈنگنا ḍaṉgṇā, ਡੰਗਣਾ ḍaṅgṇā
- sharpen in Gujarati
- તીક્ષ્ણ કરવા માટે, શાર્પ કરવા માટે
- sharpen in Sanskrit
- शा śā, तिज् tij, चोदयति codayati
- sharpen in Assamese
- ধাৰ কৰা dhar kora, চোকা কৰা süka kora
- sharpen in Arabic
- شَحَذَ šaḥaḏa
- sharpen in Malay
- asah
- sharpen in Indonesian
- mengasah
- sharpen in Thai
- ลับ láp, เหลา lǎo
- sharpen in Vietnamese
- mài, vót
- sharpen in Myanmar
- ချွန် hkywan
Examples of sharpen in a sentence
- Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don’t have to be sharpened.
- The polearm had a wide, sharpened fluke attached to the central point.
- In the hours before daylight he sharpened the skids and tightened the lashings to prepare for the long dogsled journey.
Synonyms of sharpen
Antonyms
Forms of sharpen
| third-person singular present | sharpens |
|---|---|
| present participle | sharpening |
| past participle | sharpened |
| past | sharpened |
Origin of sharpen
From Middle English scharpenen, scharpnen, equivalent to sharp + -en.
Words formed from sharpen
Words that rhyme with sharpen
Questions about sharpen
- What does sharpen mean?
- Sharpen means to make sharp.
- What is sharpen in Hindi?
- Sharpen in Hindi is पैना करना (painā karnā). See Sharpen meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sharpen?
- Sharpen is a verb.
- How do you pronounce sharpen?
- Sharpen is pronounced /ˈʃɑɹpən/ (US).
- What is the past tense of sharpen?
- The past tense of sharpen is sharpened.
Words near sharpen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sharpen (page history and authors); sharpen (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sharpen (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sharpen (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sharpen (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sharpen (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ڈنگنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); sharpen (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); चोदयति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); চোকা কৰা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sharpen.wav.
Cite this entry: “sharpen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sharpen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.