sharplysharp‧ly /ˈʃɑːpli $ ˈʃɑːr-/ ●●○ W3 adverb 
Prices have risen sharply over the last few months. His politics have moved sharply to the right.2in a disapproving or unfriendly way: ‘What do you mean by that?’ Paul asked sharply. a sharply critical report3quickly and suddenly: Graham looked up sharply, startled by a noise behind him. Emily drew in her breath sharply.4used when saying that two things are clearly and noticeably very different: Opinion is sharply divided. His beliefs and values contrast sharply with (=are very different from) his father’s.COLLOCATIONSverbsrise/increase sharply· The value of early photographs has risen sharply in recent years.fall/drop sharply· Oil prices fell sharply.sharply reduce/cut something· These measures could sharply reduce pollution from road traffic.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- sharply rising prices
- Opinion is sharply divided in the local community.
- Our sales declined sharply in the last quarter.
- The White House reacted sharply to the accusations of improper deals.
- As a result, in many countries, the wage gap between lowly and highly skilled workers has widened sharply.
- But the ratio would then fall sharply in the second and third decades of the twenty-first century.
- He has spoken sharply to Mr Dach about it and has received his assurance that such a thing will never happen again.
- However, households also paid sharply more for some items they bought every few days, such as gasoline and dairy products.
- In the morning, he sharply criticized Jones for maverick marketing policies and accused him of trying to tear down the league.
- The rich colour came to her cheeks at the daring thoughts and she caught her breath sharply.
- What is needed is a couple of examples to bring out the difference sharply.
- When Gore was the Democratic front-runner for the presidential election, his satellite drew a sharply mixed reaction.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYverbs The bird has sharply defined black and rust markings. The issue of cloning has sharply divided voters. The car swerved sharply to avoid the dog. The road turns sharply at the top of the hill.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
· The value of early photographs has risen sharply in recent years.
· Oil prices fell sharply.
· These measures could sharply reduce pollution from road traffic.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES (=brake quickly) He braked sharply to avoid the dog.
He braked sharply to avoid the dog. (=be extremely different from something) These results contrast sharply with other medical tests carried out in Australia.
These results contrast sharply with other medical tests carried out in Australia. (=in an angry way)· His attorney sharply criticized the police yesterday.
(=cut a lot)· Housing benefit was sharply cut for all but the poorest people.
The bird has sharply defined black and rust markings. (=in a very noticeable way)· Ways of negotiating differ markedly across the Atlantic.
The issue of cloning has sharply divided voters. (=by a large amount) London share prices fell sharply yesterday.
London share prices fell sharply yesterday.· Medical progress has sharply reduced death rates.
(=a lot in a short time)· The value of the painting has risen sharply in recent years.
The car swerved sharply to avoid the dog. The road turns sharply at the top of the hill.· Behaviouralism, for instance, has self-consciously hoisted its own flag and been sharply critical of Realism.· Alexander, who was sharply critical of Forbes' negative ads, appeared to benefit from running a positive campaign.
· The post-privatisation product looks and tastes no different; but its price everywhere is sharply higher.· In some categories, however, the market share would be sharply higher.· In 1998, the company went from a profit to a £493,000 loss on sharply higher sales.· This represents a 25 % increase over the figure for 1994, which was itself sharply higher than for 1993.
· Spending on beef was sharply lower in the four weeks to December 10 than a year earlier, and volume significantly smaller.· Stocks were sharply lower from the opening.· Several sociological studies have shown that churchgoers have sharply lower levels of illegitimacy and divorce than others in the population.· Growing concerns about profit margins sent technology stocks sharply lower, overshadowing modest gains for blue-chip stocks.
VERB· His lack of charisma and often unhappy persona will contrast sharply with Mandela's awesome humility, humour and stern paternalism.· It essentially mediated between the sharply contrasting views of the other eight justices, who divided equally on the issue of quotas.· He contrasted sharply with the acceptance horn, exemplified by career policemen.· This is not the first time that Rumsfeld's downbeat caution has contrasted sharply with Powell's greater internationalist team spirit.· Horsley just smiled, his large relaxed frame and confident bonhomie contrasting sharply with the abrupt style of the little self-made Geordie.· Bruch painted a psychological portrait of the obese that contrasted sharply with the image of the jolly fat person.· This contrasts sharply with chemical Products, by far the greater part of those sales are external.
· The planting has been sharply criticized by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds because of the effect on local bird life.· Yet the president is sharply criticized for convening a national forum to discuss our racial divisions.· The change has been sharply criticized by environmentalists.· Reno has been criticized sharply by congressional Republicans for her failure to name an independent counsel.· Matiukhin sharply criticized Gaidar's team and expressed disagreement with the government's budget commission.· In the morning, he sharply criticized Jones for maverick marketing policies and accused him of trying to tear down the league.· E was later sharply criticized by the Public Utilities Commission and politicians such as state Sen.
· That strategy also includes sharply curtailing corporate banking to focus primarily on its biggest customers worldwide.· But they sharply curtailed their buying in the 1990s as a strengthening yen badly hurt their dollar-denominated positions.· Taxes will have to be raised or countercyclical spending will have to be sharply curtailed.
· First, the top rate of income tax has been cut sharply.· Still others, sharply cut off from the rest, address the issues relevant to secondary school.· The strongest opposition is likely to come from supporters of nuclear power, which was cut sharply in the Clinton budget.· With the number of middle-management positions sharply cut, where will the information-based organization's top executives come from?· Federal aid had been cut sharply.· Almost immediately it becomes clear that both the number of management levels and number of managers can be sharply cut.
· This teaching function, though, declined sharply after 1380 with the establishment of Durham College at Oxford.· When retirement wealth is included, that share declines sharply from over 36 percent in 1929 to under 14 percent in 1976.· Parts and accessories sales declined sharply, reversing an earlier trend.· A Yankee Group study found that long-distance rates declined sharply from 1984 to 1991 as a result of new competition.· The proportion of out-of-wedlock births has increased so much mainly because the number of births to married couples has sharply declined.· But that is measured by the number of workers - which has declined sharply.· Indeed, the Soviet Union continues to decline sharply in importance.
· Within this framework, every character is sharply defined.· His nose was long and straight and his mouth was sharply defined and beautifully shaped.· In fact there are some nice examples of mixes of higher education and new technology thriving in sharply defined cultural niches.· Only she, and you as her parents, have any sharply defined reality.· The buildings were two stories high, sharply defined by the hard Hopperesque light.· None of these élites had sharply defined boundaries, and there was much overlap among them.
· Both their work and personal lives deteriorated sharply when that relationship was jeopardised.· In mid-1991 labour relations deteriorated sharply with the sugarcane harvest once again delayed because of disputes over payments for the previous year's crop.
· Difficulties created by local authority boundaries, especially where policies differ sharply and where these divide built up areas are well described.· But despite this similarity, local government differs sharply among the five nations.· It ought to be self-evident, but perhaps is not, that schools differ sharply from each other, as do colleges.· In outlook and temperament the brothers differed sharply.· Veterinary historians still differ sharply about the effect his long spell in charge of the College had on the emerging profession.
· The flow of money into the 30-stock average dipped sharply in mid-December.
· Opinion about Ken Livingstone divided sharply.· He is both sharply divided from his party opponents and emotionally involved in electoral contests.· Its sharply divided report now is scheduled to be released next month.· Beyond the financial problems, there is new concern that historically tolerant California is developing a culture sharply divided along racial lines.· Northern opinion was sharply divided, with party lines much in evidence.
· Her opinion of Benedict Beckenham dropped sharply.· After three decades of promotion, the Pap test is largely the reason why cervical cancer deaths have dropped sharply.· Their balance of payments deficits have been alarmingly large, and their currencies have dropped sharply, aggravating their inflationary problems.· As in Iowa, New Hampshire had recovered from a 1992 recession and had seen unemployment drop sharply.· In a separate report, the Conference Board, a research group, said consumer confidence dropped sharply in January.· Violent incidents such as kidnapping and sabotage dropped sharply last year.· The limits are imposed after futures prices drop sharply.
· Yet the jobless rate is falling sharply.· After that, volumes were expected to fall sharply.· Eurotunnel shares fell sharply following revelations of spiralling costs.· The Potomac was clean again, a haven for windsurfers, and certain airborne pollutants had fallen sharply.· Bombay: Prices fell sharply for the second day running.· In late morning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell sharply, down 115.09 at 10,380.19.· Individual contributions fell sharply in the recession of the early 1980s.· Never let sharply falling markets discourage you from investing.
· Since then extra-marital conceptions have increased sharply while all conceptions, and all births, have fallen.· Meanwhile, drug use among children increased sharply after more than a decade of decline.· But the number of suburban areas deemed in need of extra government aid has increased sharply.· And now we discover that only the emotion of anger in election campaigns increases sharply with education.· In these cases, shift increases by up to 1Å and Xdisp also increases sharply.· Thomas said the program is successful and already had increased sharply the number of people intending to buy a Nissan this year.· By last year it had risen to 28 %, and the numbers have increased sharply in recent months.· Admission to inpatient status of children and adolescents has increased sharply in recent years.
· Gabriel looked sharply in their direction.· In her hands she carried two things that made Creusa, in all her preoccupation, start and look sharply at them.· He had caught her looking sharply at him when she thought he wouldn't notice.· Jean looked sharply at her, but she must have been mistaken.
· It was also during this period that his political ideas began moving sharply to the right.· The value of the option will likely rise if the Ecu begins to move sharply in one direction or the other.· And then anger took its place, and she moved sharply across to her bed and rang the bell.· In the past the yaw damper has occasionally moved sharply, causing abrupt plane movements.· A neat step-over by Rocastle sent Thomas hurtling in on goal but Rhodes moved sharply off his line to smother the shot.· Bedwyr moved sharply, and his horse flung up its head against my restraining hand.
· Critics of the reforms reacted sharply last night.
· Expenditures will reduce sharply during 1993 as several developments are completed and as obligations are reduced as a result of asset sales.· Long-term research projects within companies will most likely be abandoned altogether or sharply reduced.· The use of molecular markers will sharply reduce or even eliminate field trials.· Though sharply reduced in the last couple of years, federal budget deficits continue.· It has sharply reduced the growth of Medicaid and taken away much of a special tax break now given the working poor.· This was followed by a long expansion and sharply reduced inflation.· The Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse is sharply reducing its longstanding role as a military contractor in order to strengthen ties to the entertainment industry.· In a world of deflation the pressure to act is sharply reduced.
· The importance attached to every other issue rose sharply when the campaign opened but the importance attached to defence hardly changed.· Meanwhile, stock prices of several investment banking firms rose sharply Thursday.· The share of total sterling lending to the private sector-households and businesses - has risen sharply.· The frequency of talking politics rises sharply from the primary to the secondary to the university levels in all five countries.· It has risen sharply in real terms, as the hon. Gentleman knows only too well.· At least eight storm-related deaths were reported late last night and the toll was expected to rise sharply.· But in tests for 11-year-olds standards have risen sharply.· If prospects for a deal dim, investors worry that long-term interest rates will rise sharply.
· Mrs Taxos spoke sharply and Meg scrambled all anyhow on to the warm fur back and gripped the springy mane.· He has spoken sharply to Mr Dach about it and has received his assurance that such a thing will never happen again.· Each word was distinctly, carefully and sharply spoken.· The coroner spoke sharply to Wells, asking him about his statement and why he had not followed it up.· I didn't mean to speak sharply.· If we'd raised our hand to them, or even spoken sharply, they'd all have had instant heart attacks.· She spoke sharply, and her niece saw that she was upset for some reason.· One or two people spoke sharply to him as he elbowed and trod on feet.
· It turned sharply, giving panoramic views over the valley, but fell away beyond the wildflowers into nothingness.· Mount Tarumae rose on the left as the train began to turn sharply inland, towards Sapporo on the Chitose Line.· He turned sharply, looking back to where the sleeping Balor lay.· He turned sharply, saw her, dropped his hands.
WORD FAMILYnounsharpenersharpnesssharpadverbsharpsharplysharpishadjectivesharpverbsharpen
1suddenly and by a large amount: Prices have risen sharply over the last few months. His politics have moved sharply to the right.2in a disapproving or unfriendly way: ‘What do you mean by that?’ Paul asked sharply. a sharply critical report3quickly and suddenly: Graham looked up sharply, startled by a noise behind him. Emily drew in her breath sharply.4used when saying that two things are clearly and noticeably very different: Opinion is sharply divided. His beliefs and values contrast sharply with (=are very different from) his father’s.COLLOCATIONSverbsrise/increase sharply· The value of early photographs has risen sharply in recent years.fall/drop sharply· Oil prices fell sharply.sharply reduce/cut something· These measures could sharply reduce pollution from road traffic.- product placement
- prof
- profane
- profanity
- profess
- professed
- profession
- professional
- professional foul
- Professional Golfers' Association of America
- professionalism
- professionalization
- professionalize
- professionally
- professional wrestler
- professional wrestling
- professor
- professorial
- professorially
- professorship
- proffer
- proficiency
- proficient
- proficiently
- profile