obtuse
pronunciation
How to pronounce obtuse in British English:
UK [əbˈtju:s]
How to pronounce obtuse in American English:
US [əbˈtus]
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- Adjective:
- of an angle; between 90 and 180 degrees
- of a leaf shape; rounded at the apex
- lacking in insight or discernment
- slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
Word Origin
- obtuse
- obtuse: [16] The etymological meaning of obtuse is ‘beaten down, blunted’. It comes from Latin obtūsus, the past participle of obtundere, a compound verb formed from the prefix ob- ‘against’ and tundere ‘beat’ (source of English contusion and related to toil). The notion of being ‘dulled’ or ‘blunted’ led to its being used for ‘having dulled wits, stupid’, and the idea of bluntness also lies behind its geometrical use for an angle of more than 90 degrees (as contrasted with the ‘sharp’ acute angle).=> contusion, toil
- obtuse (adj.)
- early 15c., "dull, blunted," from Middle French obtus (fem. obtuse), from Latin obtusus "blunted, dull," also used figuratively, past participle of obtundere "to beat against, make dull," from ob "against" (see ob-) + tundere "to beat," from PIE *(s)tud-e- "to beat, strike, push, thrust," from root *(s)teu- "to push, stick, knock, beat" (cognates: Latin tudes "hammer," Sanskrit tudati "he thrusts"). Sense of "stupid" is first found c. 1500. Related: Obtusely; obtuseness.
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. But the administration cannot be disingenuous or obtuse .
- 2. Shoe leather for all your energy and brains , you are gloriously obtuse about new realities .
- 3. The obtuse editor did not know he was being nibbled at .
- 4. We are obtuse and quite abstract , really .
- 5. Already it must be clear even to the most obtuse and complacent that this crisis matches the most serious to have affected advanced countries in the postwar era .