Meanings
plural bluntnesses
- countableuncountableThe characteristic of being blunt.
James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired. He always knew when his body or his mind had had enough and he always acted on the knowledge. This helped him to avoid staleness and the sensual bluntness that breeds mistakes.
1953, Ian Fleming, “The Secret Agent”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 71 more example
All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishbluntnes
- Englishbluntness
From Middle English bluntnes, bluntnesse, equivalent to blunt + -ness.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish tylppyys
- tylppyysthe characteristic of being blunt
Latvian trulums
- trulumsthe characteristic of being blunt
Polish bezceremonialność
- bezceremonialnośćthe characteristic of being blunt
Russian затупление, туповатость
- затупление (zatuplenije)the characteristic of being blunt
- туповатость (tupovatostʹ)the characteristic of being blunt
Cite this entry
bluntness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bluntness
“bluntness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bluntness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bluntness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bluntness.
Source: bluntness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.