obtuse


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Related to obtuse: obtuse triangle

obtuse

not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; dull, blunt, unfeeling, tactless, insensitive: an obtuse statement made without considering its effect; slow, dim; boorish; indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound
Not to be confused with:
abstruse – hard to understand; esoteric: abstruse theories; recondite, incomprehensible, unfathomable, arcane
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

ob·tuse

 (ŏb-to͞os′, -tyo͞os′, əb-)
adj. ob·tus·er, ob·tus·est
1.
a. Lacking quickness of perception or intellect.
b. Characterized by a lack of intelligence or sensitivity: an obtuse remark.
c. Not distinctly felt: an obtuse pain.
2.
a. Not sharp, pointed, or acute in form; blunt.
b. Having an obtuse angle: an obtuse triangle.
c. Botany Having a blunt or rounded tip: an obtuse leaf.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin obtūsus, past participle of obtundere, to blunt; see obtund.]

ob·tuse′ly adv.
ob·tuse′ness n.
Usage Note: Obtuse is sometimes used where one might expect abstruse instead, but the Usage Panel is divided on the acceptability of these usages. In our 2009 survey, 55 percent of the Usage Panel rejected obtuse meaning "recondite," as in The reader has to struggle through dense prose and obtuse references to modern philosophers. Some 52 percent rejected the word when used to mean "indirect or oblique" in the sentence Divorce is mentioned, and there are a few obtuse references to sex. By contrast, 56 percent accepted sentences in which obtuse was used to mean "hard to follow or understand" in the phrases obtuse instructions and obtuse explanation. Perhaps the use of the word as a sophisticated synonym of stupid makes these extended derogatory uses more tolerable than they otherwise might be.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

obtuse

(əbˈtjuːs)
adj
1. mentally slow or emotionally insensitive
2. (Mathematics) maths
a. (of an angle) lying between 90° and 180°
b. (of a triangle) having one interior angle greater than 90°
3. not sharp or pointed
4. indistinctly felt, heard, etc; dull: obtuse pain.
5. (Botany) (of a leaf or similar flat part) having a rounded or blunt tip
[C16: from Latin obtūsus dulled, past participle of obtundere to beat down; see obtund]
obˈtusely adv
obˈtuseness, obˈtusity n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ob•tuse

(əbˈtus, -ˈtyus)

adj.
1. not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; insensitive; dull.
2. not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt.
3. (of a leaf, petal, etc.) rounded at the extremity.
4. indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.
[1500–10; < Latin obtūsus blunt; see obtund]
ob•tuse′ly, adv.
ob•tuse′ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.obtuse - of an angle; between 90 and 180 degrees
acute - of an angle; less than 90 degrees
2.obtuse - (of a leaf shape) rounded at the apex
unsubdivided, simple - (botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions
3.obtuse - lacking in insight or discernment; "too obtuse to grasp the implications of his behavior"; "a purblind oligarchy that flatly refused to see that history was condemning it to the dustbin"- Jasper Griffin
undiscerning - lacking discernment
4.obtuse - slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity; "so dense he never understands anything I say to him"; "never met anyone quite so dim"; "although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick"- Thackeray; "dumb officials make some really dumb decisions"; "he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse"; "worked with the slow students"
stupid - lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

obtuse

adjective stupid, simple, slow, thick, dull, dim, dense, dumb (informal), sluggish, retarded, simple-minded, dozy (Brit. informal), witless, stolid, dopey (informal), moronic, brainless, uncomprehending, cretinous, unintelligent, half-witted, slow on the uptake (informal), braindead (informal), dumb-ass (informal), doltish, dead from the neck up (informal), boneheaded (slang), thickheaded, dull-witted, imperceptive, slow-witted, muttonheaded (slang), thick as mince (Scot. informal), woodenheaded (informal) I think you're being deliberately obtuse.
quick, bright, sharp, keen, smart, clever, shrewd, astute
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

obtuse

adjective
Lacking in intelligence:
Informal: thick.
Slang: dimwitted, dopey.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
مُنْفَرِج الزاويَه
stump
tylppä
sljór
plats
slötrubbig
geniş açı

obtuse

[əbˈtjuːs] ADJ
1. (Math) → obtuso
2. (= stupid, insensitive) [person] → obtuso, torpe; [remark] → desacertado, poco inteligente
he can be very obtuse at timesa veces puede ser muy obtuso
now you're just being obtusete empeñas en no comprender
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

obtuse

[əbˈtjuːs] adj
[person] → obtus(e)
[angle] → obtus(e)
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

obtuse

adj
(Geometry) → stumpf
personbegriffsstutzig, beschränkt; are you just being obtuse?tust du nur so beschränkt?
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

obtuse

[əbˈtjuːs] adj (gen) (Math) → ottuso/a; (remark) → stolto/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

obtuse

(əbˈtjuːs) adjective
(of an angle) greater than a right-angle.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

ob·tuse

a. obtuso-a.
1. que le falta agudeza mental;
2. romo-a, mellado-a.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
References in classic literature ?
'Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are honest and of good report, think on these things.' We do well to worship God in His works; and I know none of them in which so many of His attributes--so much of His own spirit shines, as in this His faithful servant; whom to know and not to appreciate, were obtuse insensibility in me, who have so little else to occupy my heart.
"I may be very obtuse, Holmes, but I fail to see what this suggests."
I was now seeing David once at least every week, his mother, who remained culpably obtuse to my sinister design, having instructed Irene that I was to be allowed to share him with her, and we had become close friends, though the little nurse was ever a threatening shadow in the background.
To this Sancho made answer, "Indeed those gentlemen the judges that send you to me might have spared themselves the trouble, for I have more of the obtuse than the acute in me; but repeat the case over again, so that I may understand it, and then perhaps I may be able to hit the point."
He remembered with what a callous selfishness his uncle had treated her, how obtuse he had been to her humble, devoted love.
When the elder Osborne gave what he called "a hint," there was no possibility for the most obtuse to mistake his meaning.
Lying in it, as in a grave or sarcophagus, with a hurried drapery of sheet and blanket thrown across it, was the body of a heavily-made man, with an obtuse head, and coarse, mean, common features.
A heavy club of wood, or a broad bar of iron - a chair - any large, heavy, and obtuse weapon would have produced such results, if wielded by the hands of a very powerful man.
Her tone, as she uttered the exclamation, had a plaintive and really exquisite melody thrilling through it, yet without subduing a certain something which an obtuse auditor might still have mistaken for asperity.
Marian, primed to a humorous mood, would discover the queer-shaped flints aforesaid, and shriek with laughter, Tess remaining severely obtuse. They often looked across the country to where the Var or Froom was know to stretch, even though they might not be able to see it; and, fixing their eyes on the cloaking gray mist, imagined the old times they had spent out there.
Her view of the matter was that, though the inhabitants of the hives were familiar and friendly with her by this time and recognized that she came among them without hostile intent, it might well happen that among so many thousands there might be one slow-witted enough and obtuse enough not to have grasped this fact.
Reflects charming old Lady Tippins on Veneering's right; with an immense obtuse drab oblong face, like a face in a tablespoon, and a dyed Long Walk up the top of her head, as a convenient public approach to the bunch of false hair behind, pleased to patronize Mrs Veneering opposite, who is pleased to be patronized.