obtuse

CEFRC1

/əbˈtjuːs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Slow to understand things or lacking sharpness.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

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

Examples

  • She complained of an obtuse pain in her back.

  • When you think about it, it's all Kenny's fault for being so obtuse.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /-ˈtʃuːs/
  • /ɑb-/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Blunt, or rounded at the extremity.

  2. Obtuse-angled, having an obtuse angle.

  3. Larger than one, and smaller than two right angles, equivalently more than 90° and less than 180°.

More examples

In context

  • Pedants delight in being obtuse.

  • 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.

  • See then the quiver broken and decay'd, / In which are kept our arrows! Rusting there / In wild disorder, and unfit for use, / […] Their points obtuse, and feathers drunk with wine!

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank student could not grasp the simple concept after many explanations.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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.