Find the word definition

Crossword clues for obtuse

obtuse
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
obtuse
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
obtuse angle
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Maybe I'm being obtuse, but I don't understand what you're so upset about.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Even the deeply obtuse can be seized by kamikaze zeal.
▪ He is a renowned and honourable man, but with regard to this matter he is either being naive or obtuse.
▪ Heather tried to be as obtuse as she could.
▪ How today's youngsters are obtuse!
▪ The oral shield is rhombic but often with an obtuse proximal angle and a convex distal edge.
▪ The oral shields is a rounded pentagonal with an obtuse or slightly rounded proximal angle.
▪ The ventral arm plates are wider than long, pentagonal with an obtuse proximal angle and a slightly convex distal edge.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Obtuse

Obtuse \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.

  2. Not having acute sensibility or perceptions; not alert, especially to the feelings of others; dull; stupid; as, obtuse senses.
    --Milton.

  3. Dull; deadened; as, obtuse sound.
    --Johnson.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
obtuse

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.

Wiktionary
obtuse

a. 1 (context now chiefly botany zoology English) blunt; not sharp. 2 intellectually dull or dim-witted. 3 indirect or circuitous. 4 Of sound: deadened or muffled. 5 (context geometry English) Of an angle: greater than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees. 6 (context geometry English) Of a triangle: with one obtuse angle.

WordNet
obtuse
  1. adj. of an angle; between 90 and 180 degrees [ant: acute]

  2. of a leaf shape; rounded at the apex

  3. 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 [syn: purblind]

  4. 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" [syn: dense, dim, dull, dumb, slow]

Wikipedia
Obtuse

Obtuse 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
  • A leaf shape

Usage examples of "obtuse".

At this moment, when the possession of a new violin absorbed all his thoughts, his mind was particularly obtuse on the subject of sentimental grievances, and the almost voluptuous delight which filled his eyes when William entered his chamber, entirely prevented him from seeing the heavy shadow which overhung the brows of the latter.

The ghastly tale which they told could not have been utterly unread even by the obtuse and opinionated mind of the vain mother.

I see that the Southerners are as disappointingly obtuse as their Northern counterparts when it comes to such rules.

This statement seemed rather obtuse, even for her, and Muzeni - who did not know her conversational foibles as well as Terrel or Elam - sought to challenge her.

The Tarantula provides for every contingency: the underground passage, in fact, begins by being vertical, but, at four or five inches from the surface, it bends at an obtuse angle, forms a horizontal turning and then becomes perpendicular once more.

Epeirae does not extend beyond the wrapper, which is an obtuse cone in the one case and a balloon in the other.

Sarah said aloud, startling Eleanor as she concentrated on a particularly obtuse paragraph about the Hanged Man card.

Not that I made it that difficult, but the thief-takers have been alarmingly obtuse during my short, colorful career.

It is then continued down angularly to about the centre of the anterior edge of the scapular shield, where it forms an obtuse angle with its posterior but major half.

One to 2 inches broad and even more, convex, plane, often unequal, obtuse, sticky, and even, smooth, flesh of the same color as cap.

The edges were obtuse, the caps fleshy, then corky, smooth, the upper ends not regular, oblique in the form of an umbo or little knob, the pellicles or outside layers thin and easily separated.

Lauren was being deliberately obtuse, she just thought it was impossible to comprehend exactly what Rhys had done.

They were strangely obtuse to the repercussions of their fiats on the lives of men and women.

The smallest is also of a very odd shape, being almost as narrow as a lancet window, with, however, a rather obtuse arch.

This doorway on the inner side is divided by a cluster of shafts, and above it is an oblong piece of masonry ornamented with arcading enclosed in an obtuse arch.