What's the difference between blunt and sharpen?

Blunt


Definition:

  • (a.) Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; dull; not sharp.
  • (a.) Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; stupid; -- opposed to acute.
  • (a.) Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.
  • (a.) Hard to impress or penetrate.
  • (v. t.) To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
  • (v. t.) To repress or weaken, as any appetite, desire, or power of the mind; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of; as, to blunt the feelings.
  • (n.) A fencer's foil.
  • (n.) A short needle with a strong point. See Needle.
  • (n.) Money.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Hepatic enzyme elevations were more dramatic after blunt trauma, reflecting greater hepatocellular disruption.
  • (2) The Metoclopramide-induced secretion of prolactin and aldosterone was blunted in 6 patients pretreated with 200 mg ibopamine.
  • (3) The computer tomographic appearances of lesions of parenchymatous organs following blunt abdominal trauma are described in 13 patients (five liver, four renal, two splenic and two pancreatic injuries).
  • (4) Last November he bluntly warned EU chiefs he could, if he wished, “flood Europe” with refugees.
  • (5) Persons with clinical abdominal findings, shock, altered sensorium, and severe chest injuries after blunt trauma should undergo the procedure.
  • (6) Blunt trauma to the epigastrum may result in a retroperitoneal hematoma involving the head of the pancreas and descending duodenum.
  • (7) The changes included swelling, blunting, and flattening of epithelial foot processes, were accompanied by decreased stainability of glomerular anionic sites, and were largely reversed by subsequent perfusion with the polyanion heparin.
  • (8) Addition of Ni2+ prior to TRH blunted the component of the TRH-induced transient increase in [Ca2+]i dependent on influx of Ca2+.
  • (9) As previously reported, patients with affective disorders show a blunted GH response to clonidine.
  • (10) Blunt homicide predominated amongst White females, who were substantially older than the Coloured and African subjects.
  • (11) A comparison of two different restriction enzymes, which cleave the plasmid with blunt or cohesive-ended double-strand breaks, did not reveal differences in repair fidelity.
  • (12) The prognosis was better following blunt trauma, stretch injuries and after a spontaneous onset.
  • (13) Seventeen (77%) of the injuries were due to penetrating trauma and five (23%) were due to blunt trauma.
  • (14) The cortisol response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia and exogenous ACTH appeared to be blunted in these patients.
  • (15) Vagal blockade reversibly inhibited the rise of plasma PP and significantly blunted the elevation of plasma VIP.
  • (16) But the drugs chief, Julio Calzada, is blunt: " For 50 years, we have tried to tackle the drug problem with only one tool – penalisation – and that has failed .
  • (17) Average increases in resting metabolic expenditure for a group of patients following elective operation, skeletal trauma, skeletal trauma with head injury, blunt trauma, sepsis and burns were determined by indirect calorimetry and protein need by urinary nitrogen losses over extended time periods.
  • (18) The indication for angiography in children accident patients with blunt trauma must be set up carefully.
  • (19) Arterial occlusion or stenosis due to blunt trauma is rare.
  • (20) Also, the initial rise in V1 was blunted or blocked in all subjects.

Sharpen


Definition:

  • (a.) To make sharp.
  • (a.) To give a keen edge or fine point to; to make sharper; as, to sharpen an ax, or the teeth of a saw.
  • (a.) To render more quick or acute in perception; to make more ready or ingenious.
  • (a.) To make more eager; as, to sharpen men's desires.
  • (a.) To make more pungent and intense; as, to sharpen a pain or disease.
  • (a.) To make biting, sarcastic, or severe.
  • (a.) To render more shrill or piercing.
  • (a.) To make more tart or acid; to make sour; as, the rays of the sun sharpen vinegar.
  • (a.) To raise, as a sound, by means of a sharp; to apply a sharp to.
  • (v. i.) To grow or become sharp.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This paper employs a rhetorical form designed to clarify and sharpen the focus of the very special stance required--which must be painstakingly learned under careful supervision--in order to effectively tune in to communications coming from the unconscious of the patient.
  • (2) Although not all reported unconventional applications of antimicrobial agents remain in use, sharpening awareness of their multifaceted actions should encourage broader understanding of all agents traditionally confined to specific uses.
  • (3) The surprise return of Saleh last month, after recovering in Saudi Arabia from an assassination attempt, has plunged the country into deeper uncertainty and sharpened the differences between pro- and anti-government camps.
  • (4) Ear-piercing techniques include needles, safety pins, sharpened studs, and self-piercing kits.
  • (5) The factory sharpened scalers exhibited metallic extensions from the lateral surface (wire edges).
  • (6) Disruption of visual activity, either by blocking activity with intraocular tetrodotoxin (TTX; Schmidt and Edwards, 1983) or by synchronizing activity with strobe illumination (Schmidt and Eisele, 1985), disrupts the sharpening process: the map is correctly oriented but the multiunit receptive fields at each point average 25-40 degrees in diameter.
  • (7) NaOH or 1 M acetate buffer at pH 6.0 sharpened e.p.r.
  • (8) The addition of 1 mM MgATP leads to a sharpening of the length distribution around 1.5 micron without change in the 16 nm diameter.
  • (9) During this period, the intensity of transcription in presomitic and somitic mesoderm declines relative to that in the overlying neural ectoderm, and the transcription boundary within the presumptive hindbrain region sharpens.
  • (10) The overall sense is of YouTube sharpening its focus on its most popular content, both in terms of individual channels and entire categories.
  • (11) The day before the murder you Adebolajo bought five knives and a knife sharpener – which you used to sharpen some of the knives in preparation for their use in the murder.
  • (12) The sharpening dispute over the Senkaku islands, known as Diaoyu in China , is the most recent product of this old narrative of violence, hatred, fear and grief that continues, sporadically, to obstruct both nations in their efforts to forge a more stable, trusting relationship.
  • (13) Hagan himself used to work in the car industry, and brought a similar shift operation and level of automation to the housing factory to sharpen up the process.
  • (14) Jam is often used but this can make it too sweet – if you do use jam try mixing in a little lemon juice to sharpen things up.
  • (15) By the time the latest spat came before the FCC, Karr argues, net activists had sharpened their tactics and raised their game.
  • (16) To improve the definitions, eliminate overlapping diagnostic categories, and sharpen the fuzzy boundaries that contribute substantially to limited reproducibility, we suggest: (1) the categories of astrocytoma nos, fibrillary astrocytoma, and protoplasmic astrocytoma be collapsed into a single category of astrocytoma; (2) the diagnostic category of desmoplastic medulloblastoma be combined with medulloblastoma; and (3) the criteria for anaplasia should be further refined to include quantification of critical histologic features, e.g., agreed upon operational definitions for amount of cell density, number of mitoses and pleomorphism for anaplastic astrocytoma and anaplastic ependymoma.
  • (17) Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let’s use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together … If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate – as it should – let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost.
  • (18) When sharpened with citrus and lubricated with olive oil, this is a real delight.
  • (19) His friend Dingle Foot drafted an editorial that David then sharpened up, inserting phrases that summed up his outlook: 'We had not realised that our government was capable of such folly and crookedness...It is no longer possible to bomb countries because you fear that your trading interests will be harmed...this new feeling for the sanctity of human life is the best element in the modern world.'
  • (20) The temperature profiles of turbidity (TP tau) of the cyclododecapeptide are analogous to those of the polyhexapeptide where increases in concentration lead to translations of the profiles to lower temperature without sharpening of the transition.