what does obtuse mean

“Obtuse” has two main meanings in everyday English and in math:

Core meaning

• In everyday language, obtuse describes someone who is slow to understand something, or seems annoyingly slow to “get” what is obvious.

• In geometry, an obtuse angle is an angle that is more than 90° but less than 180°.

So if someone says “Don’t be obtuse,” they usually mean “Don’t act like you don’t understand” or “Don’t be dense.”