obtuseness

«obtuseness» in Mova's school dictionary: Slowness to understand things; not noticing what is obvious — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (obtuseness — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Slowness to understand things; not noticing what is obvious. tree →

2) (maths, rare) The quality of being an obtuse angle, wider than a right angle. tree →

3) Bluntness, not being sharp or pointed. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories, a character's obtuseness annoys others because he will not «get» a hint; in The Wind in the Willows Toad's friends despair at his obtuseness about his own foolishness. In maths, «obtuse» is the everyday word: an obtuse angle is between 90° and 180°.

examples

• Her obtuseness made the joke fall flat. tree →
• Badger sighed at Toad's obtuseness. tree →
• His obtuseness about the hints was annoying. tree →
• The teacher explained the obtuseness of the angle by comparing it with a right angle. tree →
• Was it real obtuseness, or was he pretending not to understand? tree →
• The obtuseness of the old knife made it useless for cutting. tree →

note

From «obtuse» + «-ness». In maths use «obtuse angle»: acute < 90°, right = 90°, obtuse between 90° and 180°, reflex > 180°. Calling a person obtuse is rude.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «obtuseness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.