What does "obtuse" mean?
To dull or reduce an emotion or a physical state.
Obtuse
/əbˈt(j)us/ adj, verb
adj, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: To dull or reduce an emotion or a physical state.
- Grammar: obtuse is listed as adj, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: dense, dull, slow, abrupt.
- Useful contrasts: acute, acute-angled, bright.
- Usage evidence: When you think about it, it's all Kenny's fault for being so obtuse.
How to use "obtuse"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "obtuse" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "obtuse" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "obtuse" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "obtuse" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "obtuse" is acting as adj, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "dense" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "obtuse", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To dull or reduce an emotion or a physical state. obsolete, transitive
"Fouler. To tread, ſtampe, or trample on; to bruiſe, or cruſh, by ſtamping; hurt, or obtuſe, by treading on; […]"
Adjective
- 1 Blunt; not sharp, pointed, or acute in form.
"For we see a Feather or a Rush drawn along the Lip or Cheek, doth tickle; whereas a thing more obtuse, or a touch more hard, doth not."
- 2 Blunt; not sharp, pointed, or acute in form.; Blunt, or rounded at the extremity.
"The Herb Pantagruelion hath a little Root somewhat hard and ruff, roundish, terminating in an obtuse and very blunt Point, and having some of its Veins, Strings or Filaments coloured with some spots of white, […]"
- 3 Blunt; not sharp, pointed, or acute in form.; Larger than one, and smaller than two right angles, or more than 90° and less than 180°. specifically
"If you put foure Spleets in a Hiue, then cut their backes, where they must leane one against another, to square angles, such as be foure in a circle: if but three, cut them to obtuse angles, such as are three in a circle: (you may readily try them, before you put them in, by Moulds made iust to those formes) and so will they stand close and firme together."
- 4 Blunt; not sharp, pointed, or acute in form.; Obtuse-angled, having an obtuse angle.
"Unless A lies in that part of a semi-infinite strip bounded by AB outside a semi-circle of diameter AB, the triangle is obtuse, so that the probability of getting an obtuse triangle is equal to 1."
- 5 Intellectually dull or dim-witted.
"It was a merry time with Carrmen, Watermen, & Porters: for in this Eclipſe, many of them did nothing but drinke, domineere, and ſwagger in Alehouſes; but the often going to and fro of the Pot, made them talke of that, which they had nothing to doe withall, and many times their obtuſe apprehenſions would be medling with the warres betwixt the great Turke and Preſter Iohn, how it was likely to end; […]"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Of sound, etc.: deadened, muffled, muted.
"The ſenſe of the inteſtines, if exquiſite, wants a more gentle remedie; and if dull, a ſtronger: Alſo the ſenſes of the inteſtines are perceived by the courſe of diet; for thoſe that feed upon muſtard, or the like biting and more ſharp meat, without trouble, are of a more obtuſe ſenſe; but thoſe of an exact ſenſe, which preſently perceive the mordacity; and thoſe that are of a mean ſenſe, want a mean doſe."
- 7 Indirect or circuitous.
"[…] The Conchologist's First Book intends to do something different by describing both the shell and the soft parts of each creature together. The claim seems awfully trivial, I admit, and [Edgar Allan] Poe does press his point only by the obtuse route of stressing an expansion of terminology, from the traditional "conchology" (literally the study of shells, as retained in the title) to "malacology" (or the study of the entire organism—for the animals within the hard shells consist almost entirely of soft parts,[…])."
Adjective
- 1 slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity wordnet
- 2 lacking in insight or discernment wordnet
- 3 of an angle; between 90 and 180 degrees wordnet
- 4 (of a leaf shape) rounded at the apex wordnet
Antonyms
Example
"When you think about it, it's all Kenny's fault for being so obtuse."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "obtuse"?
Common synonyms include: dense, dull, slow, abrupt, affectless, anesthetic.
How do you use "obtuse" in a sentence?
When you think about it, it's all Kenny's fault for being so obtuse.
How do you pronounce "obtuse"?
Pronounced /əbˈt(j)us/.
Etymology
From Middle English obtuse, from Latin obtūsus (“blunt, dull; obtuse”), past participle of obtundere, from obtundō (“to batter, beat, strike; to blunt, dull”), from ob- (“against”) (see ob-) + tundō (“to beat, strike; to bruise, crush, pound”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd-, from *(s)tew- (“to hit; to push”)). More at obtund.