obtuse

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The _bisexual or (female) spikelets_ are linear-oblong, obtuse, and the callus with reddish hairs.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Lacking quickness of perception or intellect.
  2. adjective Characterized by a lack of intelligence or sensitivity: an obtuse remark.
  3. adjective Not distinctly felt: an obtuse pain.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Examples (50)

  • Maigret still felt dull and obtuse, and it was at moments such as this that he wished he had chosen a different profession. —  Maigret in Society —Georges Simenon—#84
  • His death in December 2002 was only half mourned as insiders felt that his attitude was obtuse, his methods were obsolete and his leadership was an obstacle to change. —  Stabroek News
  • And while Geithner's faux paus is a bit more obtuse, the fact that he signed a document understanding his tax obligations and was periodically reminded of them by his employer put the dunce cap squarely back on his head. —  The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
  • Unfortunately that agenda may be certain enough that to deny its authority is simply obtuse, a profoundly uncritical pretence that to read narrative as an articulation does not entail reading it as an articulation of some agent. —  Notes From The Geek Show
  • It's interface is obtuse, the coding requires expertise, and it can be quite slow. —  That Queer Expatriate
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin obtūsus, past participle of obtundere, to blunt; see obtund.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French obtus = Spanish Portuguese obtuso = Italian ottuso, from Latin obtusus, blunted, blunt, dull, past participle of obtundere, blunt, dull: see obtund.
 

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/əbˈtjus/
by American Heritage

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