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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#m1)

2) (maths, rare) The quality of being an obtuse angle, wider than a right angle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#m2)

3) Bluntness, not being sharp or pointed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#m3)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#x1)
- Badger sighed at Toad's obtuseness. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#x2)
- His obtuseness about the hints was annoying. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#x3)
- The teacher explained the obtuseness of the angle by comparing it with a right angle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#x4)
- Was it real obtuseness, or was he pretending not to understand? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#x5)
- The obtuseness of the old knife made it useless for cutting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/#x6)

### 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obtuseness/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.