blunt

See also: Blunt

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Possibly from Old Norse blundra.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /blʌnt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt

Adjective

blunt (comparative blunter, superlative bluntest)

1. Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; not sharp.
   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     The murderous knife was dull and blunt.

   • 1944, Miles Burton, The Three Corpse Trick, chapter 5:

     The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, The China Governess^[1]:

     The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].

2. Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; opposed to acute.
   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     His wits are not so blunt.

3. Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.

   the blunt admission that he had never liked my company

   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     a plain, blunt man

4. Hard to impress or penetrate.
   • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

     I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions.

5. Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.

Synonyms

• (having a thick edge or point): dull, pointless, coarse
• (dull in understanding): stupid, obtuse
• (abrupt in address): curt, short, rude, brusque, impolite, uncivil, harsh

Derived terms

Terms derived from blunt

blunt instrument

bluntly

bluntness

Translations

Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument

• Arabic: كليل (kalīl)
• Armenian: բութ (hy) (butʿ)
• Belarusian: тупы (tupý)
• Bulgarian: тъп (bg) (tǎp), притъпен (bg) (pritǎpen)
• Burmese: တုံး (my) (tum:)
• Catalan: rom (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鈍 (zh), 钝 (zh) (dùn)

• Czech: tupý (cs) m
• Danish: sløv
• Dutch: stomp (nl), bot (nl)
• Finnish: tylppä (fi), tylsä (fi)
• French: émoussé (fr)
• German: stumpf (de), abgestumpft
• Greek: αμβλύς (el) (amvlýs)
• Hungarian: tompa (hu)
• Italian: spuntato (it)
• Japanese: 鈍い (ja) (にぶい, nibui)
• Korean: 무딘 (ko) (mudin)
• Kyrgyz: мокок (ky) (mokok)

• Latin: retusus
• Latvian: truls, neass
• Macedonian: тап (tap)
• Manx: neuvirragh
• Persian: کند (fa) (kond)
• Polish: tępy (pl)
• Portuguese: cego (pt), rombo (pt), obtuso (pt)
• Romanian: tocit (ro), neascutit
• Russian: тупой (ru) (tupój)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: туп

  Roman: tup (sh)

• Slovak: tupý
• Slovene: top (sl)
• Spanish: romo (es)
• Swedish: trubbig (sv)
• Ukrainian: тупий (tupýj)

Dull in understanding; slow of discernment

• Armenian: բութ (hy) (butʿ)
• Bulgarian: тъп (bg) (tǎp), глупав (bg) (glupav)
• Danish: sløv
• Finnish: hidasälyinen (fi)
• French: sot (fr), obtus (fr), idiot (fr)
• Greek: αμβλύς (el) (amvlýs)

• Italian: ottuso (it) m
• Macedonian: тап (tap)
• Persian: کند (fa) (kond)
• Portuguese: obtuso (pt)
• Russian: тупой (ru) (tupój)
• Spanish: obtuso (es)

Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious

• Bulgarian: рязък (bg) (rjazǎk), безцеремонен (bg) (bezceremonen)
• Finnish: suorasukainen
• French: abrupt (fr)

• German: ungehobelt, unverblümt (de)
• Portuguese: brusco (pt)
• Russian: грубый (ru) (grúbyj)
• Spanish: brusco

Hard to impress or penetrate

• Bulgarian: нечувствителен (bg) (nečuvstvitelen)
• German: abgestumpft

• Italian: spuntato (it)
• Portuguese: obtuso (pt)

Noun

blunt (plural blunts)

1. A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.
2. A short needle with a strong point.
3. (smoking) A marijuana cigar.
   • 2005: to make his point, lead rapper B-Real fired up a blunt in front of the cameras and several hundred thousand people and announced, “I'm taking a hit for every one of y'all!” — Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home (Simon & Schuster 2005, p. 461)
4. (UK, slang, archaic, uncountable) money
   • Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

     Down he goes to the Commons, to see the lawyer and draw the blunt […]

5. A playboating move resembling a cartwheel performed on a wave.

Translations

cigar filled with marijuana

• Finnish: marihuanasavuke, (slang) marisätkä
• Galician: peta f

• German: Blunt m
• Portuguese: beque (pt) m

Verb

blunt (third-person singular simple present blunts, present participle blunting, simple past and past participle blunted)

1. To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
2. (figuratively) 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.
   • 2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Liverpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, BBC:

     That settled the Merseysiders for a short while but it did not blunt the home side's spirit.

Translations

To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker

• Bulgarian: притъпявам (bg) (pritǎpjavam)
• Finnish: tylsyttää
• French: émousser (fr)
• German: abstumpfen

• Greek: αμβλύνω (el) (amvlýno)
• Macedonian: тапи (tápi)
• Portuguese: cegar (pt)
• Spanish: embotar (es)

To repress or weaken

• Finnish: latistaa, (colloquial) lässäyttää
• French: réprimer (fr)
• Greek: αμβλύνω (el) (amvlýno)

• Portuguese: reprimir (pt)
• Spanish: embotar (es)

See also

• bluntly
• dull

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Old French

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *blundaz

Adjective

blunt m (feminine blunde)

1. blonde