Literary notes about obtuse (AI summary)
In literature, “obtuse” serves as a multifaceted descriptor that spans both character traits and physical properties. Writers use it to denote a kind of dullness or insensitivity—one might note a character’s failure to grasp subtle nuances or exhibit perceptiveness, as seen when a character is described as “obtuse in essentials” or even self-deprecatingly claiming to be “very obtuse” [1], [2], [3]. At the same time, the term anchors precise descriptions of form and structure, from botanical elements like leaves with rounded or blunt tips [4], [5] to geometric angles that are wider than right [6], [7]. This blending of figurative and literal usage underscores the word’s versatility in enriching both narrative characterization and technical detail [8], [9].
- Mrs. Honeychurch had been civil, but obtuse in essentials, while as for Freddy—“He is only a boy,” he reflected.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - Indulgent reader, you may be pleased to say that I have been very obtuse; and yet, with humility, I protest against that verdict.
— from The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers - “I have been very obtuse, Watson,” said he.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Leaves opposite, oblong, obtuse, downy, aromatic in odor.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera - Leaves sessile, linear, obtuse, margins revolute, white-hoary beneath.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera - 2.] represent the parallel Planes of a Looking-glass, and BD the Plane of the Diamond-cut, making at B a very obtuse Angle with the Plane AB.
— from Opticks : by Isaac Newton - —Right, acute, obtuse angles.—Angles vertically opposite are equal.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - People who are not only weak, but silly or obtuse as well, are often in these difficulties.
— from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw - The bastions are large with obtuse angles, square orillons, and double flanks originally casemated, and most of them crowned with cavaliers."
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano
