1
as in blunt
lacking sharpness of edge or point
obtuse scissors designed so that young users will not cut themselves
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
forgive me for being obtuse, but I wish you'd explain that to me again
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Recent Examples of obtuse
Nevala-Lee’s previous biography was on Buckminster Fuller, architect, futurist, longtime professor at Southern Illinois University, but also an infamously obtuse, inscrutable mansplainer’s mansplainer — his lectures seemed to go on for days.
—
Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2025
Hours are wasted sifting through open roles, tweaking cover letters, dealing with obtuse recruiters—and that’s all before you get started with potential interviews.
—Matt Burgess, Wired News, 7 Aug. 2025
Turning it into a cheap conceit to blast a political opponent is both obtuse and shameful, and only serves to bolster those who would downplay the terrors of Hitler’s reign.
—Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 15 June 2025
Instead, the show morphed into a thudding retread of SATC with weaker, more diluted storytelling/joke-telling and an obtuse obsession with flaunting its characters’ seemingly infinite riches.
—Robyn Bahr, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for obtuse
Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2025
Hours are wasted sifting through open roles, tweaking cover letters, dealing with obtuse recruiters—and that’s all before you get started with potential interviews.
—Matt Burgess, Wired News, 7 Aug. 2025
Turning it into a cheap conceit to blast a political opponent is both obtuse and shameful, and only serves to bolster those who would downplay the terrors of Hitler’s reign.
—Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 15 June 2025
Instead, the show morphed into a thudding retread of SATC with weaker, more diluted storytelling/joke-telling and an obtuse obsession with flaunting its characters’ seemingly infinite riches.
—Robyn Bahr, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for obtuse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obtuse
Adjective
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And while she’s known for experimenting with her look — from waist-length neon wigs to sleek blunt bobs — Cardi has shown that her natural hair is full and long, stretching down her back.—
Ryma Chikhoune,
Footwear News,
11 Feb. 2026
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Its descriptively blunt autobiographical accounts of palpable angst start off reserved—but never boring—and slowly blossom into an explosive finish.—
Billie Bugara,
Pitchfork,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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And then quite a bit of dumb bits, like really dumb bits.—
Eric Ducker,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
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The multi-vehicle pile-up that ensues might go even dumber than a Rusko drop, yet there’s no escaping the anxiety that remains in the static hiss that closes the track.—
James Gui,
Pitchfork,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Flat, calm but earnest, mildly anxious, blunted, volatile.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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But maybe Johnson isn’t stupid.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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Such as the one where the candidate remarked that some white rural Americans were stupid and racist.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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That builds on similar trends throughout 2025, when the industry buoyed an otherwise slow labor market, as the nation’s hospitals, clinics and nursing homes kept hiring even as many employers pulled back.—
Abha Bhattarai,
Washington Post,
14 Feb. 2026
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Any type of realism was [limited to] very short clips, everything was very slow, bad textures, no skin textures, lacking detail.—
Arjun Kharpal,
CNBC,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Feltner’s routine was pretty simple.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
12 Feb. 2026
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Crime 101 takes the same view of quid pro quo as the most basic form of American commerce and makes simple but brutal points about value and self-worth, where your car, its year, make and model, matters more than your resumé.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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These caverns under sidewalks could be used for storage, and circular pieces of thick glass in the sidewalk added natural light to these eerie underground chambers.—
Jacques Kelly,
Baltimore Sun,
7 Feb. 2026
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The Bucklebury countryside is known for its thick woodlands, which add an extra layer of privacy to the exclusive area, attracting a less-flashy set.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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For years, astronomers have debated whether planets this massive could form through core accretion, the slow, bottom-up process in which solid material clumps together into a dense core that then pulls in vast amounts of gas.—
Samantha Mathewson,
Space.com,
10 Feb. 2026
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In Earth’s deep interior and under enormous pressure, a dense, hot and fluid metal core began to churn.—
Mindy Weisberger,
CNN Money,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Obtuse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obtuse. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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