obtund

English

WOTD – 24 September 2008

Etymology

Latin obtundere (“to dull", "deaden", "deafen”), from ob- (see ob-) + tundere. More at obtuse.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əbˈtʌnd/, /ɒbˈtʌnd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əbˈtʌnd/, /ɑbˈtʌnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnd

Verb

obtund (third-person singular simple present obtunds, present participle obtunding, simple past and past participle obtunded)

1. (transitive, chiefly medicine) To reduce the edge or effects of; to mitigate; to dull.
   • 1900, Martha M. Allen, Alcohol, a Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine‎^[1], page 319:

     […] the use of alcoholic decoctions […] which are given as medicines to allay pain, obtund nerve sensibility, to cure the little sufferer of his vital manifestations […]

   • 2008, Jerrold H. Levy, Kenichi A. Tanaka, Eric J. Okun, “Cardial Surgical Pharmacology”, in Cardiac Surgery in the Adult‎^[2], →ISBN, page 103:

     Small doses of opioids are also useful in obtunding airway reflexes […]

Synonyms

• (dull or mitigate): blunt, deaden

Derived terms

• obtundity

Related terms

English terms prefixed with ob-

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)tewd-‎ (0 c, 22 e)

Translations

to dull

• Bulgarian: притъпявам (bg) (pritǎpjavam)
• Finnish: hillitä (fi), rajoittaa (fi)
• German: abstumpfen (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: døyve (no), dulme