What's the difference between gradual and sharp?

Gradual


Definition:

  • (n.) Proceeding by steps or degrees; advancing, step by step, as in ascent or descent or from one state to another; regularly progressive; slow; as, a gradual increase of knowledge; a gradual decline.
  • (n.) An antiphon or responsory after the epistle, in the Mass, which was sung on the steps, or while the deacon ascended the steps.
  • (n.) A service book containing the musical portions of the Mass.
  • (n.) A series of steps.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The cross sectional area of the aortic lumen was gradually decreased while the length of the stenotic lesion gradually increased by using strips with different width.
  • (2) With prolonged ischemia, it is only transient and is followed by a gradual loss of the adenylyl cyclase activity.
  • (3) The number of axons displaying peptide-like immunoreactivity within the optic nerve, retinal or cerebral to the crush, and within the optic chiasm gradually decreased after 2-3 months.
  • (4) The deep cerebellar nuclei were moderately labeled at birth and gradually decreased in density thereafter.
  • (5) There is a gradual loosening of the adolescent's emotional dependence on her parents and a transfer of dependency ties to peers.
  • (6) In a steady-state exercise test this difference developed gradually during the first 10 min of exercise.
  • (7) Gradual evolutionary change by natural selection operates so slowly within established species that it cannot account for the major features of evolution.
  • (8) It was shown that gradual recovery of spike wave patterns occurred from initial water swallowing to successive dry swalllowing.
  • (9) Size of both areas gradually decreased as the medulla filled with plasma cells, 7-30 days after injection.
  • (10) The general tendency of gradual CBF reduction from the pedicle to the distal end of all the flaps was observed.
  • (11) In contrast to findings in the rat and dog, no sharp drop but a gradual fall in CLi was observed at decreasing FENa values down to 0.02%.
  • (12) In this study patients who had successfully been treated with loreclezole in previous studies were gradually withdrawn from their antiepileptic comedication.
  • (13) Ten animals served as sedentary controls, the 10 experimental animals were subjected to a training program with gradually increasing intensity of 18 weeks duration on a motor-driven treadmill.
  • (14) A radical rearrangement of the organism occurred gradually: initially oval in shape, the parasite became round, then elongated, flattened, and underwent cytokinesis.
  • (15) + inf., pons + medulla), rCBF increased toward the control level gradually, and it completely recovered 60 min after recirculation.
  • (16) Following uninephrectomy a more gradual regression took place and normal cardiac weight was not obtained until 3 weeks.
  • (17) This process may be achieved by co-ordinated synthesis and translation of new mRNA or gradual accumulation of constitutively synthesized mRNA, followed by coordinated translational activation.
  • (18) After more than 10 weeks, CD34+, CD33- cells gradually recovered, as erythroid burst colony-forming cells increased following GM colony-forming cells.
  • (19) BC treatment was reinstituted, and the serum PRL level decreased gradually without recurrent CSF rhinorrhea.
  • (20) We conclude that CJD-related neuropathological phenomena do not accumulate gradually through the incubation period but develop relatively abruptly and in complete form.

Sharp


Definition:

  • (superl.) Having a very thin edge or fine point; of a nature to cut or pierce easily; not blunt or dull; keen.
  • (superl.) Terminating in a point or edge; not obtuse or rounded; somewhat pointed or edged; peaked or ridged; as, a sharp hill; sharp features.
  • (superl.) Affecting the sense as if pointed or cutting, keen, penetrating, acute: to the taste or smell, pungent, acid, sour, as ammonia has a sharp taste and odor; to the hearing, piercing, shrill, as a sharp sound or voice; to the eye, instantaneously brilliant, dazzling, as a sharp flash.
  • (superl.) High in pitch; acute; as, a sharp note or tone.
  • (superl.) Raised a semitone in pitch; as, C sharp (C/), which is a half step, or semitone, higher than C.
  • (superl.) So high as to be out of tune, or above true pitch; as, the tone is sharp; that instrument is sharp. Opposed in all these senses to flat.
  • (superl.) Very trying to the feelings; piercing; keen; severe; painful; distressing; as, sharp pain, weather; a sharp and frosty air.
  • (superl.) Cutting in language or import; biting; sarcastic; cruel; harsh; rigorous; severe; as, a sharp rebuke.
  • (superl.) Of keen perception; quick to discern or distinguish; having nice discrimination; acute; penetrating; sagacious; clever; as, a sharp eye; sharp sight, hearing, or judgment.
  • (superl.) Eager in pursuit; keen in quest; impatient for gratification; keen; as, a sharp appetite.
  • (superl.) Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; impetuous.
  • (superl.) Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interest; close and exact in dealing; shrewd; as, a sharp dealer; a sharp customer.
  • (superl.) Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty; as, sharp sand.
  • (superl.) Steep; precipitous; abrupt; as, a sharp ascent or descent; a sharp turn or curve.
  • (superl.) Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone, without voice, as certain consonants, such as p, k, t, f; surd; nonvocal; aspirated.
  • (adv.) To a point or edge; piercingly; eagerly; sharply.
  • (adv.) Precisely; exactly; as, we shall start at ten o'clock sharp.
  • (n.) A sharp tool or weapon.
  • (n.) The character [/] used to indicate that the note before which it is placed is to be raised a half step, or semitone, in pitch.
  • (n.) A sharp tone or note.
  • (n.) A portion of a stream where the water runs very rapidly.
  • (n.) A sewing needle having a very slender point; a needle of the most pointed of the three grades, blunts, betweens, and sharps.
  • (n.) Same as Middlings, 1.
  • (n.) An expert.
  • (v. t.) To sharpen.
  • (v. t.) To raise above the proper pitch; to elevate the tone of; especially, to raise a half step, or semitone, above the natural tone.
  • (v. i.) To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.
  • (v. i.) To sing above the proper pitch.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Basal 20 alpha DHP levels remained low until a sharp rise at mid pro-oestrus.
  • (2) Whole-virus vaccines prepared by Merck Sharp and Dohme (West Point, Pa.) and Merrell-National Laboratories (Cincinnati, Ohio) and subunit vaccines prepared by Parke, Davis and Company (Detroit, Mich.) and Wyeth Laboratories (Philadelphia, Pa.) were given intramuscularly in concentrations of 800, 400, or 200 chick cell-agglutinating units per dose.
  • (3) Gonadectomy of females was accompanied by changes in the activity of individual HAS links in different direction--some reduction of ACTH in the hypophysis, a sharp and significant fall of the peripheral blood glucocorticoid level and a marked significant elevation of hydrococortisone production in the adrenal cortex in vitro.
  • (4) The University of the Arts London and Sunderland, Sheffield Hallam, Manchester Met and Leeds Met university have also experienced sharp declines in applications.
  • (5) A sharp decrease in oxygen uptake occurred in Neurospora crassa cells that were transferred from 30 degrees C to 45 degrees C, and the respiration that resumed later at 45 degrees C was cyanide-insensitive.
  • (6) In contrast to findings in the rat and dog, no sharp drop but a gradual fall in CLi was observed at decreasing FENa values down to 0.02%.
  • (7) A more specific differentiation, as indicated by the sharp increase in GAD levels which was concurrent with an increase in interneuronal contacts, lagged behind the initial growth.
  • (8) It appears that the decline in plasma IGF-I lags considerably behind the sharp fall in plasma GH levels and expression of hepatic IGF-I mRNA.
  • (9) Supplementation of Mg resulted in a sharp increase in serum PTH level with a rapid disappearance of the dissociation between the two immunoassays of PTH.
  • (10) A.CA animals were extremely susceptible, showing a sharp and sustained increase in parasitemia starting on day 12, followed by death no later than day 15 post-inoculation.
  • (11) There was a sharp transition with actin nearly saturated with S1: when the S1 to actin ratio was low, the kinetics were fast (K1 greater than 300 microM, k2 greater than 40 s-1); when it was high, they were slow (K1 = 14 microM, k2 = 2 s-1).
  • (12) Low calcium causes an increase in optimum frequency, a decrease in current threshold, and an increase in sharpness of tuning in both real axons and axons computed according to the Hodgkin-Huxley formulation; high calcium causes opposite effects.
  • (13) The Tea Party movement has turned climate denial into a litmus test of conservative credentials – and that has made climate change one of the most sharp divisions between Obama and Romney.
  • (14) The presence in lamprey kidney of a loop which is similar to Henle's loop in mammals and birds indicates that the development of the system of osmotic concentration conditioned by the formation in the kidney of the medulla and from a sharp increase in renal arterial blood supply.
  • (15) There is no longer a sharp dividing line between working and rentiering.
  • (16) We are going to see a sharp fall unless sellers hold the sector up by making aggressive offers.
  • (17) A sharp increase in the intensity of lipids biochemiluminiscence and decrease in the tissue homogenates biochemiluminiscence were observed during the period of progressive tumour growth on the 6-8 days following introduction of the virus.
  • (18) By no means is this a new theme, but it has taken on an added sharpness and urgency after the conferences.
  • (19) The blood lymphocytes were small with scanty cytoplasm, densely condensed nuclear chromatin, and deep clefts originating in sharp angles from the nuclear surface.
  • (20) In sharp contrast, the coverage provided by the various mainstream news channels and newspapers not only seems – with some exceptions – unresponsive and stilted, but often non-existent.