obtuse

[uh b-toos, -tyoos] /əbˈtus, -ˈtyus/

adjective

not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.

not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.

(of a leaf, petal, etc.) rounded at the extremity.

indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.

Origin

1500-10; < Latin obtūsus dulled (past participle of obtundere), equivalent to ob- ob- + tūd-, variant stem of tundere to beat + -tus past participle suffix, with dt > s

Related forms

obtusely, adverb

obtuseness, noun

subobtuse, adjective

subobtusely, adverb

subobtuseness, noun

Can be confused

abstruse, obtuse.

Synonyms

1. unfeeling, tactless, insensitive; blind, imperceptive, unobservant; gauche, boorish; slow, dim.

Examples from the web for obtuse

When females have been candid with me, they often cite my rather obtuse ways of carrying on a conversation.
The parents who gave their kids the gun that his brother used to commit suicide weren't evil so much as mind-numbingly obtuse.
It might even be the actual dominant life form on this planet, and we're simply too obtuse to be aware of it.
Their words were obtuse and the presentations circuitous.
It doesn't matter whether the angle joining them is obtuse or acute.
The moral sensibility of the writer seems at once to be morbidly obtuse and morbidly acute.
There have been blowups, say those who have witnessed them, and obtuse demands.
At that point where the course suddenly alters to the northward an obtuse angle is formed.
Maybe he is embittered by his own experience with obtuse or dishonest venture capitalists.
So they often seemed strident, ideological and morally obtuse.

British Dictionary definitions for obtuse

obtuse

/əbˈtjuːs/

adjective

mentally slow or emotionally insensitive

(maths)

(of an angle) lying between 90° and 180°
(of a triangle) having one interior angle greater than 90°

not sharp or pointed

indistinctly felt, heard, etc; dull: obtuse pain

(of a leaf or similar flat part) having a rounded or blunt tip

Derived Forms

obtusely, adverb
obtuseness, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Latin obtūsus dulled, past participle of obtundere to beat down; see obtund

Word Origin and History for 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" (cf. Latin tudes "hammer," Sanskrit tudati "he thrusts"). Sense of "stupid" is first found c.1500. Related: Obtusely; obtuseness.

obtuse in Medicine

obtuse ob·tuse (ŏb-tōōs', -tyōōs', əb-)
adj.

Lacking quickness of perception or intellect.
Not sharp or acute; blunt.

ob·tuse'ness n.