blunt
/blʌnt/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms blunter bluntest blunts blunting blunted
- adjective Having a thick edge or point; not sharp.
- adjective Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; opposed to acute.
- adjective Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting in the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech. “I was taken aback by the blunt admission that he had never liked my company.”
- adjective Hard to impress or penetrate.
- adjective Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.
- noun A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.
- noun A short needle with a strong point.
- noun (smoking, slang, US) A marijuana cigar.
- noun (UK, slang, archaic, uncountable) Money.
- noun A playboating move resembling a cartwheel performed on a wave.
- verb To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
- verb (figuratively) To repress or weaken; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of “It blunted my appetite.”
- proper noun A surname transferred from the nickname.
- proper noun A minor city in Hughes County, South Dakota, United States.
Synonyms
dull pointless coarse obtuse stupid curt short rude brusque impolite uncivil harsh robust bifta bifter bogie bomber bone bun Camberwell carrot numb benumb deaden candid forthright frank free-spoken outspoken plainspoken point-blank
Etymology
From Middle English blunt, blont, from Old English *blunt, probably of North Germanic origin, possibly related to Old Norse blunda (“to shut eyes, to doze”), related to blind (> Icelandic blunda, Swedish blunda, Danish blunde).
Compare the Scandinavian-German munitons term blind (“non-live, dummy”), opposite of skarp (“live”, literally, “sharp”): Swedish and Danish blind patron (“dummy round”), Danish blindt skud, German blinder schuss (“dummy shot”), blinde granate (“dummy grenade”).
From Middle English blunten, blonten, from the adjective (see above).
* From Anglo-Norman blunt (“blond”), a nickname for someone with fair hair or a light complexion.
* From Middle English blunt (“dull, stupid”), a nickname for a stupid person.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; dull; not sharp.
- adjective Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; stupid; --opposed to acute.
- verb To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
- verb To repress or weaken, as any appetite, desire, or power of the mind; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of; as, to blunt the feelings.
Etymology [Cf. Prov. G. bludde a dull or blunt knife, Dan. blunde to sleep, Sw. & Icel. blunda; or perh. akin to E. blind.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “blunt”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details