Refine this word faster

Stronger alternatives Opposite tone Use in context Cross-language nuance

Obtuse

//əbˈt(j)us// adj, verb

Definitions

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

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; […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: obtuse