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Dumb vs Blunt - What's the difference?

dumb | blunt |

As an adjective dumb

is (label) unable to speak; lacking power of speech.

As a verb dumb

is to silence.

As a noun blunt is

blunt (marijuana cigar).

dumb

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) dumb, from (etyl) . In ordinary spoken English, a phrase like "He is dumb" is interpreted as "He is stupid" rather than "He lacks the power of speech". The latter example, however, is the original sense of the word. The senses of stupid'', ''unintellectual'', and ''pointless developed under the influence of the (etyl) word dumm.

Adjective

(er)
  • (label) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
  • * Hooker
    • to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
  • (label) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
    • dumb show
  • * Shakespeare
    • This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
  • *
  • * J. C. Shairp
    • to pierce into the dumb past
  • extremely stupid.
    • You are so dumb ! You don't even know how to make toast!
  • (label) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
    • This is dumb ! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!
    Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
  • Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
  • * De Foe
    • Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
    Synonyms
    * (unable to speak) dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless * (stupid) feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid * banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar
    Derived terms
    * dumb as a box of rocks * dumben * dumbhood * dummy * dumbness

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) dumbien, from (etyl) dumbian (more commonly in compound .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To silence.
  • * 1911 , Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison , p. 272,
    • The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
  • To make stupid.
  • * 2003 , Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice , p. 124,
    • I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
  • To represent as stupid.
  • * 2004 , Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa , p. 107,
    • Bad-mouthing Neanderthals . . . is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. . . . I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.
  • To reduce the intellectual demands of.
  • * 2002 , Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing , p. 126,
    • The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.
    Derived terms
    * dumbness * dumb blonde * dumb down * dumbocracy * dumb-show * dumb terminal * dummy * play dumb

    blunt

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; not sharp.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
    • The murderous knife was dull and blunt .
  • *{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)
    • , title= The Three Corpse Trick, section=chapter 5 , passage=The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].}}
  • Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; opposed to acute.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
    • His wits are not so blunt .
  • Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.
    • the blunt admission that he had never liked my company
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
    • a plain, blunt man
  • Hard to impress or penetrate.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
    • I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions.
  • Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.

    • Synonyms

    * (having a thick edge or point) dull, pointless, coarse * (dull in understanding) stupid, obtuse * (abrupt in address) curt, short, rude, brusque, impolite, uncivil, harsh

    Derived terms

    * blunt instrument * bluntly * bluntness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.
  • A short needle with a strong point.
  • (smoking) A marijuana cigar.
  • * 2005': to make his point, lead rapper B-Real fired up a '''blunt in front of the cameras and several hundred thousand people and announced, “I'm taking a hit for every one of y'all!” — Martin Torgoff, ''Can't Find My Way Home (Simon & Schuster 2005, p. 461)
  • (UK, slang, archaic, uncountable) money
  • * Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
    • Down he goes to the Commons, to see the lawyer and draw the blunt
  • A playboating move resembling a cartwheel performed on a wave.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
  • (figuratively) To repress or weaken, as any appetite, desire, or power of the mind; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of; as, to blunt the feelings.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
    • , date=January 12 , author=Saj Chowdhury , title=Liverpool 2 - 1 Liverpool , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=That settled the Merseysiders for a short while but it did not blunt the home side's spirit. }}

    See also

    * bluntly * dull ----