acuciar

Spanish

Alternative forms

• aguciar (obsolete)

Etymology

From acucia (“diligence, ardent desire”) +‎ -ar, semi-learned borrowing from Medieval Latin acūtiēs (“sharpness”), from Latin acūtus. Possibly related to crucial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /akuˈθjaɾ/ [a.kuˈθjaɾ] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /akuˈsjaɾ/ [a.kuˈsjaɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: a‧cu‧ciar

Verb

acuciar (first-person singular present acucio, first-person singular preterite acucié, past participle acuciado)

1. (transitive) to encourage or urge on
2. (transitive) to harass

   un problema que acucia al país

   a problem wreaking havoc on the country

   • 1612, Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio, Las famosas asturianas, act 2, page 77:

     La luz les quité delante,
     aunque asaz se dormirán;
     que el cansancio los acucia.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2020, La economía circular, El concepto de sostenibilidad y los principales riesgos ambientales:

     se hace necesaria la acción conjunta de todos los países del mundo para abordar conscientemente los problemas ambientales que nos acucian.

     Joint action by all the world's countries is necessary to consciously tackle the environmental problems that are harassing us.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of acuciar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			acuciar
gerund			acuciando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		acuciado		acuciada
		plural		acuciados		acuciadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	acucio	acuciastú acuciásvos	acucia	acuciamos	acuciáis	acucian
	imperfect	acuciaba	acuciabas	acuciaba	acuciábamos	acuciabais	acuciaban
	preterite	acucié	acuciaste	acució	acuciamos	acuciasteis	acuciaron
	future	acuciaré	acuciarás	acuciará	acuciaremos	acuciaréis	acuciarán
	conditional	acuciaría	acuciarías	acuciaría	acuciaríamos	acuciaríais	acuciarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	acucie	acuciestú acuciésvos2	acucie	acuciemos	acuciéis	acucien
	imperfect (ra)	acuciara	acuciaras	acuciara	acuciáramos	acuciarais	acuciaran
	imperfect (se)	acuciase	acuciases	acuciase	acuciásemos	acuciaseis	acuciasen
	future1	acuciare	acuciares	acuciare	acuciáremos	acuciareis	acuciaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		acuciatú acuciávos	acucie	acuciemos	acuciad	acucien
	negative		no acucies	no acucie	no acuciemos	no acuciéis	no acucien

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

Derived terms

• acuciante

Related terms

• acucia
• acucioso

Further reading

• “acuciar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025