obtundity

English

Etymology

obtund +‎ -ity

Noun

obtundity (usually uncountable, plural obtundities)

1. (rare, often medicine) The state or characteristic of having dulled senses or limited awareness.
   • 1824, Theophrastus (author), Francis Howell (translator), The Characters of Theophrastus, Josiah Taylor (London), p. 237 (Google preview):

     [T]here are beings [who] . . . revel, with a lively zest, among all the things that are most foul and loathsome. . . . Sensuality, force of temper, inertness, obtundity of perception, personal idolatry, and the destitution of the higher and better emotions of humanity, are the ingredients of a constitution of this order.

   • 1975, George Martin Yuill, The Treatment of Renal Failure, →ISBN, page 24:

     Clinically one sees gradually developing oedema, often a strikingly puffy face, increasing mental obtundity, the patient finally lapsing into confusion and stupor.

   • 2014, David J. Magee, Orthopedic Physical Assessment, →ISBN, page 104:

     The patient goes through the following stages of recovery: unconsciousness (also called paralytic coma), stupor, obtundity, lethargy, confusion (with or without delirium), near lucidity with automatism, and finally full alertness.

   • 2024 January 17, Andrew Barton, “'Obtundity' signs bewilder York residents and visitors”, in BBC News‎^[1]:

     Collins English Dictionary defines obtundity as the state of "having the senses numbed or less sharp."

Further reading

• “obtundity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.