Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Made less sharp or intense; dulled. This describes something whose sharpness, force, or effectiveness has been reduced. It often refers to physical edges but can also describe abstract qualities like emotions or sensations.

Usage

• The adjective blunted is used to describe a state resulting from an action. It indicates that something made blunt or dull.
• It can be used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like , , ).
• Common collocations include: , , (in psychology), , .

Examples

• Attributive use:
  • The surgeon could not operate with a blunted scalpel.
  • Years of hardship had left him with a blunted sense of optimism.
• Predicative use:
  • The knife's edge is completely blunted from cutting on that glass plate.
  • Her grief was so profound that all other feelings seemed blunted.

Advanced Usage

• Psychology/Medicine: Used to describe a reduced or dulled emotional response.
  • The patient exhibited blunted affect, showing little reaction to good or bad news.
• Figurative Use: Commonly applied to non-physical things like perceptions, appetites, or criticism.
  • The constant noise blunted his concentration.
  • The impact of the scandal was blunted by the company's swift apology.

Variants and Related Words

• Blunt (verb): To make something less sharp or less intense.
  • Cutting wire will blunt your shears.
• Blunt (adjective): Having a dull edge or point; straightforward to the point of rudeness.
  • a blunt pencil; a blunt statement
• Dulled (adjective): Very similar in meaning to , often interchangeable.
• Obtuse (adjective): In geometry, an angle between 90 and 180 degrees. Figuratively, slow to understand.

Synonyms

• Dulled
• Unsharpened
• Weakened
• Diminished
• Damped

Antonyms

• Sharpened
• Honed
• Acute
• Intensified
• Heightened

Related Phrases

• To become blunted: To lose sharpness or intensity over time.
  • The novelty of the job quickly became blunted by routine.
• Blunted by [cause]: A construction specifying the cause of the dulling.
  • His enthusiasm was blunted by repeated failures.

Adjective

1. made dull or blunt