Obtuse

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əbˈtjuːs/

Definitions

1. Slow to understand or deliberately difficult to deal with; also describing an angle greater than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees
2. Not quick or alert in perception or intellect ; lacking sharpness or quickness in understanding ; dull-witted or insensitive in comprehension or feeling
3. Describing a person who is hard to comprehend or unresponsive to subtlety ; an angle exceeding a right angle but less than straight ; showing a lack of keenness or sensitivity

Etymology: The most striking twist is that "obtuse" originally described something physically dulled, not a dull mind. Its Latin ancestor "obtusus" meant "blunt" or "dull," as in a blade worn down or a point rounded off, and it came from "obtundere," a verb meaning to batter or beat against something, combining "ob-" (against) with "tundere" (to beat or strike). Hitting something repeatedly until its edge goes, you end up with a blunt object. That physical sense carried over into English as a description of edges and angles. In geometry, an obtuse angle is one wider than a right angle, so it is in a sense "blunted" compared with a sharp, narrow angle. The move from blunt tools to blunt people followed naturally: a dull mind was one lacking a keen edge, and "slow to understand" is the sense the word now usually carries in everyday speech.

Synonyms: blunt, dull, slow, stupid, dim-witted

Antonyms: sharp, acute, keen, smart, intelligent