From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbluntblunt1 /blʌnt/ ●○○ adjective 1 SHARPnot sharp or pointed OPP sharp Sharpen all your blunt knives. a blunt pencil2 HONESTspeaking in an honest way even if this upsets people → bluntly To be blunt, many of the candidates cannot read or write. Julian’s blunt words hurt her.► see thesaurus at honest3 → blunt instrument —bluntness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
blunt• Call her candid, a straight shooter, rather than blunt.• Yet he was cagey and knew when to be blunt.• Maria can be very blunt and sometimes shocks people who don't know her well.• His poems can be awkward and blunt but you feel any revision has been towards truth rather than beauty.• blunt criticism• These lads were the blunt end of a much nastier problem.• You don't have to be madly blunt in a political sense.• Police say the victim was hit with a blunt instrument, possibly a hammer.• After a while they kidnap and murder a young boy for kicks, bashing him over the head with a blunt instrument.• I'll be blunt. It's just not going to work.• His response was a blunt "no."• The victim was hit on the head with a blunt object.• I cut myself shaving with a blunt razor.• It's difficult to achieve a good result if you use blunt tools.bluntblunt2 verb [transitive] 1 WEAKto make a feeling less strong OPP sharpen The bad weather blunted their enthusiasm for camping.2 SHARPto make the point of a pencil or the edge of a knife less sharp OPP sharpen→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
blunt• His senses were blunted by the whiskey.• Perhaps his arid years in suburbia had blunted his ability to love and be loved.• I slotted in well, but all that vending blunted my edges and did my head in.• That blunts performance and hits fuel economy.• The latest bombing has blunted residents' hopes for peace.• The alcohol had blunted the need for violence, but hadn't removed it.• Methodological difficulties have, however, blunted the phenomenological critique.• While the scene is meant to scare us, it also contains a built-in warning device that blunts the shock.• The sickening feel of woollen gloves being pulled on to your hands and hitting and blunting your fingertips so touch was lost.Origin blunt1 (1200-1300) Perhaps from Old Norse blundr “sleeping” 