• obtundation •
Pronunciation: ahb-tên-day-shê:n • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Diminished consciousness and responsiveness between lethargy and stupor, lack of alertness.
Notes: Today's is an often needed but seldom used word. It is the action noun for obtund "to blunt, dull the senses" and the adjective is obtundent "blunting, dulling the senses". Some prefer the noun obtundity. The adjective may also serve as a noun, meaning "a substance that blunts or dulls the senses."
In Play: This word has been a prisoner of medicalese too long: "One of the symptoms of drug intoxication is obtundation." But I'm suggesting that it has served its time there and should be released to the general vocabulary: "No, I'm afraid the obtundation after a feast like that prevents me from any physical activity like tennis."
Word History: Today's Good Word is a recent creation from Latin obtundere "to make dull, blunt, deaden", originally "beat against", from ob "against" + tundere "to beat", based on a nasalized version of tudes "hammer, mallet". This word came from PIE (s)teud-, a suffixed form of (s)teu- "to push, hit", with a Fickle S, which also underlies Sanskrit tundati "pushes", Greek tykos "hammer", Dutch stug "stiff", German Stück "piece" and stutzen "clip, lop, trim", Irish tuagh "axe", Lithuanian stukt "tap, rap", Norwegian stuke "sprain, wrench", Swedish stuka "sprain, wrench", and Russian stugnut' "to beat down". (Now a smile of gratitude to Ted Holzman for bringing today's useful Good Word in out of medical literature and into the sunlight.)
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