Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/A/Acuteness

Acuteness. The opposite of gravity. There is no such thing as acuteness and gravity, absolutely so called ; they are only relations ; so that the same sounds may be either acute or grave, according to that other sound they refer or are compared to. The degrees of gravity and acuteness, in fact, make so many tones or tunes of voice or sound.. Acuteness, then, is that quality which constitutes the shrillness of any sound.

AD. (L.) At, to, he. ; as, ad libitum.