blunt instrument

plural blunt instruments

1. literallyAn object lacking sharp surfaces, especially as used to cause injury.

   It had been struck by some heavy blunt instrument, but the skull was not broken.

   1913, Sax Rohmer, chapter 8, in The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu

   1 more example

   One deep wound had been inflicted upon the temple, apparently with some blunt instrument, which had penetrated the brain.

   1851, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, The Murdered Cousin

2. figurativelyA thing, person, method, or resource which is not sufficiently precise or not sufficiently effective for its intended role or use.

   The law is a woefully blunt instrument when it comes to domestic violence of all kinds.

   2003 May 5, Aisha Labi, “The Runaway Bride”, in Time

   4 more examples

   The analyst is in a sense a blunt instrument, but he can work as somebody who cares, and I think a good analyst makes the patient feel that he has value.

   1987, Iris Murdoch, in John Haffenden, Novelists in Interview, p. 202

   [T]he United States will continue to rely on dollar depreciation as a blunt instrument to fight all its economic battles.

   2008 January 12, “Passing The Devalued Buck”, in Newsweek, retrieved 12 Jun 2011

   If Mr. Mubarak's Egypt has resorted to the traditional blunt instrument against dissent in a crisis — cutting off communications altogether — other countries have shown greater sophistication.

   2011 January 29, Scott Shane, “Spotlight Again Falls on Web Tools and Change”, in New York Times, retrieved 12 Jun 2011

   Operational managers are removing trains from the timetable with the aim of reducing traincrew and rolling stock costs. This is a blunt instrument that without careful assessment removes connecting services and causes the loss of trains required for school or work arrival times.

   2022 January 12, Industry Insider, “Treasury demands cutbacks”, in RAIL, number 948, page 68