obtuseness

[ uhb-toos-nis, -tyoos- ]

/ əbˈtus nɪs, -ˈtyus- /

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noun

lack of quickness, alertness, or sensitivity in perception, intellect, or feeling, often arising from conscious or unconscious resistance: What I find very tiresome is your willful obtuseness—your refusal to admit facts that are well-known or arguments you have lost.

the quality or degree of bluntness in physical form; lack of sharpness or acuteness: Platybasia is an abnormal obtuseness of the basal angle of the brain.

the fact or quality of being indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound: The chief indication of deep-seated, pervasive inflammation seems to be the obtuseness of the pain.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of obtuseness

First recorded in 1640–50; obtuse + -ness

OTHER WORDS FROM obtuseness

sub·ob·tuse·ness, noun

Words nearby obtuseness

obtund, obtunded, obturate, obtuse, obtuse angle, obtuseness, obtuse triangle, Obuda, OBulg., obumbrant, obumbrate

How to use obtuseness in a sentence

In building their ambitiously archetypal saga, Koorzen and Harwood have pushed so far into the realm of the unconscious that their film becomes not only opaque, but obtuse.
Queer horror film chokes on surrealist pretensions in ‘The One You Feed’|John Paul King|January 15, 2021|Washington Blade
The multi-step process with baseball writers and then the Veterans Committee is model of obtuseness.
The Baseball Hall of Fame is a Mess|Ben Jacobs|January 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was also (p. 255) supposed valuable in cases of heaviness and obtuseness of intellect.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
"What you are wearing now is pretty enough for anywhere," declared Sam Brewster, with masculine obtuseness.
And So They Were Married|Florence Morse Kingsley

I distrust all intellectual pretension that announces itself by obtuseness of palate!
George Eliot's Life, Vol. II (of 3)|George Eliot
"The flippancy of the half-educated is more obstructive to science than the obtuseness of the ignorant," said he.
The Poison Belt|Arthur Conan Doyle
She ached to tell her doleful brother what, with true masculine obtuseness, he never in the world would guess.
Thirty|Howard Vincent O'Brien