blunt
adjective
having an obtuse, thick, or dull edge or point; rounded; not sharp.
blunt
American
[bluhnt]
/ blʌnt /
adjective
-
blunter,
comparative
-
bluntest
superlative
-
having an obtuse, thick, or dull edge or point; rounded; not sharp.
a blunt pencil.
-
abruptly plain and direct in address or manner, without attempting to be tactful.
a blunt, ill-timed question.
-
slow in perception or understanding; obtuse.
His isolation has made him blunt about the feelings of others.
verb (used with object)
-
blunts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blunted,
past participle, past
-
blunting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
blunts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blunted,
past participle, past
-
blunting
present participle
noun
-
blunts
plural
-
something blunt, as a small-game arrow, a short sewing needle, or a short, thick cigar.
-
Slang. a cigar stuffed with marijuana.
blunt
1
British
/ blʌnt /
adjective
-
(esp of a knife or blade) lacking sharpness or keenness; dull
-
not having a sharp edge or point
a blunt instrument
-
(of people, manner of speaking, etc) lacking refinement or subtlety; straightforward and uncomplicated
-
outspoken; direct and to the point
a blunt Yorkshireman
verb
-
to make less sharp
-
to diminish the sensitivity or perception of; make dull
noun
Blunt
2
British
/ blʌnt /
noun
-
Anthony . 1907–83, British art historian and Soviet spy
-
Wilfred Scawen . 1840–1922, British poet, traveller, and anti-imperialist
Usage
What is a basic definition of blunt? Blunt describes something as being not sharp or as being straightforward. Blunt is commonly used as a slang noun to mean a marijuana cigarette. Blunt has several other senses as an adjective, verb, and noun. If something is blunt, it has a flat surface or is rounded. Blunt objects lack points and will slam, prod, or smash rather than pierce, puncture, or stab. In this sense, blunt is the opposite of sharp. For example, a sword is a sharp weapon that has a fine point that can pierce or has a fine edge that can slice. On the other hand, a baseball bat is a blunt object that is rounded with a flat surface. You can’t cut or slice anything with a baseball bat. Real-life examples: Sledgehammers, baseball bats, and tubes are all blunt objects. Used in a sentence: He smacked the nails with the blunt end of the hammer. In this same sense, blunt means to make something not sharp. Used in a sentence: She blunted the knife by trying to use it to cut plaster. Blunt can also mean something is straightforward or direct. Usually, this sense refers to comments or statements that are abrupt. For example, saying that your girlfriend’s new dress is ugly is a blunt statement because it directly states an opinion. As you might guess, this sense of blunt is often used interchangeably with words such as rude, curt, and explicit. The adverb bluntly most often refers to this sense of blunt. Used in a sentence: “I really hate that guy,” Shirley said bluntly. In slang, a blunt is a rolled cigarette or cigar that contains marijuana. Used in a sentence: I saw him smoking a blunt out back on the porch.
Synonym Usage
See dull. Blunt, bluff, brusque, curt characterize manners and speech. Blunt suggests lack of polish and of regard for the feelings of others: blunt and tactless. Bluff implies an unintentional roughness together with so much good-natured heartiness that others rarely take offense: a bluff sea captain. Brusque connotes sharpness and abruptness of speech or manner: a brusque denial. Curt applies especially to disconcertingly concise language: a curt reply. See dull.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bluntsimple
-
bluntssimple
-
have bluntedperfect
-
has bluntedperfect
-
am bluntingprogressive
-
are bluntingprogressive
-
is bluntingprogressive
-
have been bluntingperfect progressive
-
has been bluntingperfect progressive
Past
-
bluntedsimple
-
had bluntedperfect
-
was bluntingprogressive
-
were bluntingprogressive
-
had been bluntingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blunt
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English; perhaps akin to blind
Explanation
A blunt object is rounded — it isn't very pointy. A blunt comment is candid — it isn't very subtle. When we blunt things we make them less lively, sharp, or intense. Blunt and blunder ("make a stupid mistake") may have the same origins — the Old Norse blundra, meaning "to shut one's eyes." So don't be blunt ("dull" or "obtuse") — here are a few things you probably don't want to do: 1) use a blunt ("dull") knife to cut your tomatoes; 2) make a blunt ("outspoken") comment that might hurt someone's feelings; or 3) blunt ("deaden") the sound of your favorite music by sticking cotton balls in your ears.
Vocabulary lists containing blunt
The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 1
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List 5
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 8
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The introduction sits right between poetic and blunt, and this same small, temporal crevice is where the Holbrooke sisters spend their time.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
When asked what she would say to Manchester City, who had their emails hacked by him, her answer is blunt.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
“We’re trying to avoid a blunt hammer of a government policy, understanding the complexity of refining,” Wright said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
A notoriously blunt girl who I sensed didn’t like me approached while I was waiting for the bathroom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
I gathered my energies and launched them in this blunt sentence—
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Until she clarified that she was talking about James Blunt, not Acaster.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
At Mizzou, he has also recruited specialists to the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026
Hollywood is no stranger to celebrity couples who are also co-stars, from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to Emily Blunt and John Krasinski.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
He’s also in good company: Emily Blunt and John Krasinski are neighbors, having snagged a full-floor apartment in the building for $11 million the following year.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I wish we had time for you to check all the tables,” Mr. Blunt repeated.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
A walk after dinner, meaning 10 to 20 minutes of light movement, already consistently blunts unhealthy post-meal glucose spikes.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
Manufacturer Novo Nordisk says the once-a-day tablet could be more convenient for some people than injecting themselves weekly with GLP-1 medication that blunts appetite.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
Every shipment that makes it across the desert blunts the pressure from a closed strait and gives Gulf governments room to wait out the negotiations and shift the balance of power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
"The problem is that most evidence shows metformin blunts exercise benefits."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 18, 2025
"Three years' absence blunts the recollection of one's friends."
From Diana Tempest, Volume I (of 3) by Mary Cholmondeley
"Order the food. Skip the bill," says the site., external Its slogan is blunter: "The food never comes - but the dopamine does."
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Amit Yair, 77, was blunter as he waited in a long queue to order coffee.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
The beta mom backlash is a response to several converging realities: A blunter cultural dialogue around maternal mental health that has stripped the glamour from “having it all,” and a shifting economic landscape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
They were, to be blunter than that, living beyond their means.
From MarketWatch ● May 4, 2026
Later, testifying at Oppenheimer’s security trial, he delivered a blunter assessment: “Pretty foggy thinking,” he called it.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
“It bears emphasizing that war is among the bluntest instruments available to policymakers—economic or military,” Singh writes.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
It was, in the bluntest terms, a story about some attempts to help save the world … through initiatives with impenetrably bureaucratic names, like “the Western Resource Adequacy Program.”
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2023
He was bluntest in speaking of the war in Ukraine.
From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2022
Sometimes the bluntest instrument is best: an agreed-upon limit.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2022
"Vulgar happenings," he said, "should be presented in the bluntest fashion."
From Ivory Apes and Peacocks by James Huneker
With this intimate, painful epiphany, the show’s larger parable about obligingly submitting to ahistorical ignorance is blunted with a spiritually benevolent ideal.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
The S&P 500 stock index has been higher than it was before the war, and the rise in oil prices has been blunted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Current and former officials say they believe the ability of Iran to control the passageway will be blunted as its military assets are diminished.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Arteta has spoken previously about how chaos and attacking more directly were effective ways for Arsenal to create chances when Zubimendi's influence was blunted by being man-marked.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026
Her physical terror had blunted her emotional perceptions.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
At Climate Week, dozens of events center on blunting the energy demands of data centers–a lightning rod that has galvanized local communities and lawmakers across the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
That likely keeps oil and energy prices elevated well into the summer months, and possibly beyond, keeping Treasury bond yields higher and blunting the chances of a Federal Reserve rate cut.
From Barron's ● Apr. 1, 2026
"Even before the tumors were palpable, we see about a 40 or 50% blunting of this corticosterone rhythm," he said.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 18, 2026
“I lose it sometimes. I cry my eyes out, for sure. I feel the full emotional impact of it, in slow motion. . . . There’s no blunting it for me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2025
He pronounced the words lazily, blunting the t’s to d’s so that it sounded like “siddle lister.”
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
