obtund

[ob-tuhnd]

verb (used with object)

1. Chiefly Medicine/Medical.,  to blunt; dull; deaden.

   The drug's effect was sufficient to obtund pain.

obtund

/ ɒbˈtʌnd /

verb

1. rare,  (tr) to deaden or dull

Other Word Forms

• obtundation noun
• obtundent adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of obtund¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin obtundere “to beat at,” equivalent to ob- ob- + tundere “to strike”

Word History and Origins

Origin of obtund¹

C14: from Latin obtundere to beat against, from ob- against + tundere to belabour

Example Sentences

Meanwhile, The Concise Oxford Dictionary says to obtund is "to blunt or deaden".

Read more on BBC

In the same way, the obtunding of the nerve cells in the cortex by anaesthetics or of the conducting nerve apparatus on the way to the brain by local anaesthesia, will have a like effect.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

In men of genius the moral sense is sometimes obtunded, if not altogether absent.

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Madeira did not seem to be unconscious, but his senses were obtunded, and it was some minutes before he could sit up.

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Daily contact with vice obtunds their first abhorrence of it.

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Related Words

• dampen 
• debilitate 
• sap 
• soften 
• undermine 
• water down 
• weaken