obtuse

  • 1Obtuse — Ob*tuse a. [Compar. {Obtuser}; superl. {Obtusest}.] [L. obtusus, p. p. of obtundere to blunt: cf. F. obtus. See {Obtund}.] 1. Not pointed or acute; blunt; applied esp. to angles greater than a right angle, or containing more than ninety degrees.… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2Obtuse — may refer to: Obtuse angle, an angle of between 90 and 180 degrees, Obtuse triangle, a triangle with an internal angle of between 90 and 180 degrees, leaf shape, Linguistic ambiguity, lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility. This… …

    Wikipedia

  • 3obtuse — [äb to͞os′, əbto͞os′; äbtyo͞os′, əbtyo͞os′] adj. [L obtusus, blunted, dull, pp. of obtundere: see OBTUND] 1. not sharp or pointed; blunt 2. greater than 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees [an obtuse angle]: see ANGLE1 3. slow to understand or… …

    English World dictionary

  • 4obtuse — (adj.) early 15c., from M.Fr. obtus (fem. obtuse), from L. obtusus blunted, dull, pp. of obtundere to beat against, make dull, from ob against (see OB (Cf. ob )) + tundere to beat, from PIE * (s)tud e to beat, strike, push, thrust, fr …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 5obtuse — [adj1] slow to understand dense, dopey*, dull*, dumb, imperceptive, insensitive, opaque, slow on uptake*, stolid, thick, uncomprehending, unintelligent; concept 402 Ant. bright, intelligent, quick, smart obtuse [adj2] blunt, not sharp round,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 6obtuse — I adjective asinine, blockish, blunt, blunt witted, callous, dense, doltish, dronish, dull, dull witted, hebes, idiotic, ignorant, imbecilic, imperceptive, impercipient, insensitive, lumpish, moronic, oafish, obtusus, opaque, phlegmatic, retusus …

    Law dictionary

  • 7obtuse — *dull, blunt Analogous words: insensitive, Unsensible, anesthetic, impassible: stolid, phlegmatic, *impassive Antonyms: acute Contrasted words: *sharp, keen: sensitive, susceptible, open, exposed (see LIABLE) …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 8obtuse — ► ADJECTIVE 1) annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand. 2) (of an angle) more than 90° and less than 180°. 3) not sharp pointed or sharp edged; blunt. DERIVATIVES obtusely adverb obtuseness noun. ORIGIN Latin obtusus, from obtundere beat ag …

    English terms dictionary

  • 9obtuse — [[t]əbtju͟ːs, AM tu͟ːs[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED Someone who is obtuse has difficulty understanding things, or makes no effort to understand them. [FORMAL] I ve really been very obtuse and stupid... I m a limited and obtuse clergyman while you re the… …

    English dictionary

  • 10obtuse — adjective 1 slow to understand things, in a way that is annoying: an obtuse lout of a man | be obtuse (=pretend to not understand something): Is he being deliberately obtuse? 2 obtuse angle technical an angle between 90 and 180 degrees obtusely… …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English