obtuse \uhb-TOOS\,
adjective:
1. Not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect.
2. Not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.
3. (Of a leaf, petal, etc.) rounded at the extremity.
4. Indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.
"Excuse me?" Rose says, giving me the look I deserve, given the obtuse nature of my invitation.
-- David Sosnowski, "Vamped"
That was always your failing. Too obtuse. Never able quite to get to the point. Or to make people realise when you have got there.
-- Paul House, "Dust Before the Wind"
He tried to collect his newspaper from under her while asking, “Then why did you ask me that obtuse question?”
-- Shelly Hancock, "Entertaining Jonathan"
Obtuse comes from the Latin word tundere which meant "to beat" and the prefix ob- meaning "against" because it referred to the process of beating metal until it was dull.
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