Obtuse

Definition: Obtuse

Obtuse

Adjective

1. Of an angle; between 90 and 180 degrees.

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.

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".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "obtuse" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Note: Obtuse \Ob*tuse"\ adjective. [Comparative Obtuser; superlative Obtusest.]. (references)

Science

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Obtuse

Angularity

Right angle; (perpendicular) a; obliquity; angle of x, miter; acute angle, obtuse angle, salient angle, reentering angle, spherical angle.

Bluntness

Adjective: blunt, obtuse, dull, bluff; edentate, toothless.

Imbecility Folly

Shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony; dull, dull as a beetle; stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish; asinine; inapt; prosaic; hebetudinous.

Insensibility

Apathetic; leuco-, phlegmatic; dull, frigid; cold blooded, cold hearted; cold as charity; flat, maudlin, obtuse, inert, supine, sluggish, torpid, torpedinous, torporific; sleepy; (inactive); languid, half-hearted, tame; numbed; comatose; anaesthetic; stupefied, chloroformed, drugged, stoned; palsy-stricken.

Physical Insensibility

Adjective: insensible, unfeeling, senseless, impercipient, callous, thick-skinned, pachydermatous; hard, hardened; case hardened; proof, obtuse, dull; anaesthetic; comatose, paralytic, palsied, numb, dead.

Crosswords: Obtuse

Expressions using "obtuse": obtuse angle ♦ obtuse angular ♦ obtuse leaf ♦ obtuse pain ♦ obtuse point ♦ obtuse triangle. Additional references.

Beginning with "obtuse": obtuse-angled, obtuse-angled triangle, obtuse-angular.

Albanian

pa majë (blunt), i trashë (bearish, clumsy, coarse, coarse grained, crass, deep, dense, dullish, dumb, dummy, fat, fatuous, fool, full-bodied, full-fed, gross, gruff, lardy, oafish, obese, puddingy, purblind, ropy, rough and ready, round, roundabout, slapstick, slow witted, slowcoach, stupid, tactless, thick, uncouth, viscous, wooden, wooden-headed), i topitur (blunt, dopey, dopy, dull, listless, torpid, unpointed), i mpirë (asleep, benumbed, dead, inert, lame, muscle bound, numb, stale, torpid). (various references)

Arabic 

‏منفرج الزاوية, ‏قليل الذكاء (hidebound), ‏غير حاد, ‏بليد (bovine, dim, doltish, dopey, dull, inanimate, lethargic, light minded, lumpish, passive, silly, sleepy, slow, slow moving, sluggish, stupid, thick-headed, torpid, unworkable). (various references)

Bulgarian 

тъп (asinine, blunt, bovine, cloddish, crass, dense, dim, dim witted, dopey, dopy, dull, dumb, gross, hollow, impenetrable, lumpish, muddle-headed, opaque, puddingy, purblind, slow, sodden, stupid, thick, thick-headed, thick-witted, torpid, unpointed, wooden-headed). (various references)

Chinese 

遲� " (inactive), �'�. (various references)

Czech

omezený (circumscribed, dozy, fool, insular, limitative, limited, narrow, restricted, scanty, thickheaded, tight), tupý (blunt, brutish, cloddish, dense, dozy, dull, empty headed, indocile, mindful, pointless, stolid, stupid, thickheaded, torpid, vacant, vacuous), nechápavý (cimmerian, inept, slow witted). (various references)

Danish

stump (blunt, dull), sløv (blunt, dull). (various references)

Dutch

toonloos (dull, silent), stomp (blunt, dull), gesmoord (dull), dof (dull). (various references)

Esperanto

obtuza (dull), malinteligenta. (various references)

Faeroese

ótýðiligur (dull), ógreiður (dull, indistinct). (various references)

Farsi 

منفرجه , کندذهن (Dimwit, Imbecile, Stupid), زاویه 09تا081درجه , بیحس (Callous, Impassive, Insensate, Insensible, Insensitive, Numb, Senseless, Unfeeling). (various references)

Finnish

tylsä (blunt, dull, dull-edged, inert), tylppä (blunt, dull). (various references)

French

obtus. (various references)

German

begriffsstutzig (dense, densely, inept, obtusely, slow). (various references)

Greek 

κουτόσ (dense, purblind, stupid), αμβλύσ (blunt, dull, flat, pointless), αμβλύνουσ. (various references)

Hebrew 

מטומטם (bird brained, dense, dopey, dullard, gaga, goon, half wit, halfwitted, imbecile, lame brain, lout, muddleheaded, oafish, sot, stupid, thickheaded, woodenheaded), ק�"�" (blunt, dull, set on edge, sour), עמום (abstruse, dim, faint, frosting, fuzzy, muzzy, obscure, opaque, tarnish, vague), כ�"י (according to, amphoral, as much, in order to, so as to, so that, that, with a view to). (various references)

Hungarian

tompa (blunt, dim, dull, have a blunt edge, hollow, lustreless, matt, muffled, obscure, pastel shades, thick-headed), korlátolt (blunt-witted, borne, fatuous, illiberal, limited, narrow minded, narrow-minded, one track, petty-minded, philistine). (various references)

Indonesian

bodoh (dull, dumb, fool, hare-brained, idiot, wooden-headed). (various references)

Italian

spuntato (blunt, dull), smussato (blunt, dull), ottuso (blunt, dense, dolt, dull, fatwitted, logy, muffled, pointless, slow, slow witted, stuffy, thick, witless). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

鈍�' (obtuse angle). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ど�"かくさ�"かくけい (obtuse triangle), ど�"かく (obtuse angle). (various references)

Korean 

오b�"�어 모난 (obtuse-angular). (various references)

Manx

meayl (bald, bleak, bleak as place, hairless, hornless). (various references)

Pig Latin

obtuseay.(various references)

Portuguese

obtuso (blunt, dull, elephantine, purblind, stupid, unpointed). (various references)

Romanian

obtuz (blunt, dense, dull, lumpish, narrow minded, opaque), redus (backward, dense, low, reduced, scanty, small, stupid), mãrginit (dense, finite, illiberal, limited, little, local, low-minded, narrow, narrow minded, parochially, restricted, small), care pricepe greu. (various references)

Russian 

тупой (blockish, blunt, dense, dim witted, dim-witted, doltish, dug, dull, fat-witted, goofy, gormless, heavy, logy, muddle-headed, pig-headed, po-faced, pointless, puddingy, purblind, slow witted, slow-witted, stolid, stupid, thick, timberheaded, timber-headed, wooden-headed), бестолковый (cock eyed, goofy, gormless, muddle-headed, slow witted), притупленный (seared). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

tup (blank, blunt, cloddish, dull, hebetate, stolid), glup (anserine, asinine, brainless, calvish, cloddish, dense, dozy, dull, dumb, fat-witted, jerk, sheepish, silly, stupid, unintelligent). (various references)

Spanish

obtuso (blunt, dull), embotado (blunt, dull, thickheaded). (various references)

Swedish

vag (airy, diaphanous, foggy, impalpable, inarticulate, indefinite, indeterminate, intangible, loose, obscure, vague), trubbig vinkel, trubbig (blunt, blunted, pointless, retrousse), trögtänkt (slow on the uptake, slow witted, slow-thinking, slow-witted), trög (blockish, dull, flat, inactive, inert, languid, languorous, lifeless, lumpish, plodding, purblind, slow, slowcoach, sluggish, soggy, stick in the mud, stolid, tardy, unapt), slö (bovine, drowsy, dull, fat-witted, fishy, indolent, inert, languid, languorous, lazy, lethargic, sappy, slack, stagnant, supine), dov (aching, dull, hallow, hollow, muffled, stifled). (various references)

Thai

ทื่อ (dull), ทึ่ม (soggy). (various references)

Turkish

salak (country bumpkin, crazy, cretin, dimwitted, dolt, doltish, dope, dopey, fool, gullible, idiot, jerky, ninny, silly, stupid, sucker), kesmez, kalın kafalı (bonehead, bone-headed, chucklehead, dense, dim, dull, fat-headed, mutton head, numskull, slow on the uptake, slow witted, thick, thickheaded, thick-headed, thickskulled, thickwitted, wooden, woodenheaded), kör (blind, blind as a bat, blunt, disused, dull, mole-eyed, not sharp, sightless, stone blind, unseeing, unsighted), geniş (ample, broad, broadly, capacious, commodious, comprehensive, cosmic, cosmical, expansive, extended, extensive, full, large, open, roomy, spacious, splay, vast, walk in, wide), duygusuz (apathetic, apathetical, as cold as charity, bloodless, blunt, callous, coldhearted, conscience-proof, devoid of feelings, dull, frigid, hard-hearted, impassible, insensate, insensitive, marble, matter of fact, numb, phlegmatic, phlegmatical, senseless, soulless, steel, stolid, stony, unemotional, unfeeling, unmoved). (various references)

Turkmen 

tьnt (blunt, stupid), keзje (stupid, wrong). (various references)

Ukrainian

тупокутний (obtuse-angled), тупокінцевий, тупий (asleep, bat-eyed, blockish, blunt, dense, dim witted, doughy, dull, logy, opaque, oscitant, pointless, slow witted, wooden, wooden-headed), глухий (atonic, backwoods, deaf, noteless, one horse, surd, unvoiced), нетямущий (bad, blunt, ignorant, indocile, non-teachable, slow), заглушений (muffled), приглушений (murmurous, muted, obscure, still, sullen, thick), дурний (anserine, asinine, balmy, bat-minded, bovine, cloddish, cracked, daft, dense, fatuous, featherbrained, fool, foolish, gawky, goofy, harebrained, idle-headed, mindless, mutton-headed, nonsensical, oafish, opaque, owlish, pigheaded, sappy, sottish, spoony, stockish, stupid, thoughtless). (various references)

Vietnamese 

trì độn âm ỉ, cùn (edgeless, pointless). (various references)

Welsh

twp (dull, stupid), pw+l (blear, blunt, dim, dull), aflem. (various references)

brutus, obtusi, obtusus, stolidus. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "obtuse": obtusely, obtuseness, obtusenesses, obtuser, obtusest. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Obtuse" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abtuse, Bocuse, obstruse, obsuse, obteuse, obtruse, obtuce, obtunema, obture, obtusa, obuse, obvus, ortus, ostus, Ottesen, otuse, ubuse. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: buteos.

-1 letter: besot, bouse, bouts, buteo, butes, touse, tubes.

-2 letters: best, bets, bots, bout, bust, bute, buts, obes, oust, outs, stob, stub, suet, toes, tube, tubs.

-3 letters: bet, bos, bot, bus, but, obe, oes, ose, out, set, sob, sot, sou, sub, sue, toe, tub, use, uts.

-4 letters: be, bo, es, et, oe, os, so, to, us.

+1 letter: beshout, boletus, bosquet, obtuser, outbegs, subtone.

+2 letters: absolute, beshouts, besought, bosquets, bounties, bouquets, burstone, buxomest, doublets, doubters, obtrudes, obtusely, obtusest, outbakes, outbeams, outbless, outboxes, redoubts, robuster, saboteur, subdepot, subovate, subtones, troubles, tubenose, tuberose, tuberous, tubulose.

+3 letters: aboiteaus, absoluter, absolutes, autobuses, bathhouse, beauteous, beshouted, blousiest, blowtubes, bluecoats, bluestone, boathouse, boletuses, bounciest, bounteous, bourtrees, boutiques, breakouts, buhrstone, burgonets, burrstone, burstones, butanones, buttoners, combusted, curbstone, doubtless, dubonnets, eastbound, houseboat, isobutane, obfuscate, obscurest, obtruders, obtrusive, obturates, outblazes, outbleats, outbraves, outbreaks, outbreeds, outbribes, outfables, rebuttons, robustest, saboteurs, sauceboat, sobriquet, sodbuster, soubrette, subdepots, subeditor, subpotent, subrogate, subsector, sunbonnet, tabourers, tabourets, tenebrous, troublers, tubenoses, tuberoses, tubeworks, turbojets, unbonnets, westbound.