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Medical Term:

acute

Pronunciation: ă-kyūt′

Definition:

  1. Referring to a health effect, usually of rapid onset, brief, not prolonged; sometimes loosely used to mean severe.
  2. Referring to exposure, brief, intense, short-term; sometimes specifically referring to brief exposure of high intensity.

[L. acutus, sharp]

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Examples: glitazone, GI cocktail, etc.
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