What's the difference between blunt and downright?

Blunt


Definition:

  • (a.) Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; dull; not sharp.
  • (a.) Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; stupid; -- opposed to acute.
  • (a.) Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.
  • (a.) Hard to impress or penetrate.
  • (v. t.) To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
  • (v. t.) To repress or weaken, as any appetite, desire, or power of the mind; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of; as, to blunt the feelings.
  • (n.) A fencer's foil.
  • (n.) A short needle with a strong point. See Needle.
  • (n.) Money.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Hepatic enzyme elevations were more dramatic after blunt trauma, reflecting greater hepatocellular disruption.
  • (2) The Metoclopramide-induced secretion of prolactin and aldosterone was blunted in 6 patients pretreated with 200 mg ibopamine.
  • (3) The computer tomographic appearances of lesions of parenchymatous organs following blunt abdominal trauma are described in 13 patients (five liver, four renal, two splenic and two pancreatic injuries).
  • (4) Last November he bluntly warned EU chiefs he could, if he wished, “flood Europe” with refugees.
  • (5) Persons with clinical abdominal findings, shock, altered sensorium, and severe chest injuries after blunt trauma should undergo the procedure.
  • (6) Blunt trauma to the epigastrum may result in a retroperitoneal hematoma involving the head of the pancreas and descending duodenum.
  • (7) The changes included swelling, blunting, and flattening of epithelial foot processes, were accompanied by decreased stainability of glomerular anionic sites, and were largely reversed by subsequent perfusion with the polyanion heparin.
  • (8) Addition of Ni2+ prior to TRH blunted the component of the TRH-induced transient increase in [Ca2+]i dependent on influx of Ca2+.
  • (9) As previously reported, patients with affective disorders show a blunted GH response to clonidine.
  • (10) Blunt homicide predominated amongst White females, who were substantially older than the Coloured and African subjects.
  • (11) A comparison of two different restriction enzymes, which cleave the plasmid with blunt or cohesive-ended double-strand breaks, did not reveal differences in repair fidelity.
  • (12) The prognosis was better following blunt trauma, stretch injuries and after a spontaneous onset.
  • (13) Seventeen (77%) of the injuries were due to penetrating trauma and five (23%) were due to blunt trauma.
  • (14) The cortisol response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia and exogenous ACTH appeared to be blunted in these patients.
  • (15) Vagal blockade reversibly inhibited the rise of plasma PP and significantly blunted the elevation of plasma VIP.
  • (16) But the drugs chief, Julio Calzada, is blunt: " For 50 years, we have tried to tackle the drug problem with only one tool – penalisation – and that has failed .
  • (17) Average increases in resting metabolic expenditure for a group of patients following elective operation, skeletal trauma, skeletal trauma with head injury, blunt trauma, sepsis and burns were determined by indirect calorimetry and protein need by urinary nitrogen losses over extended time periods.
  • (18) The indication for angiography in children accident patients with blunt trauma must be set up carefully.
  • (19) Arterial occlusion or stenosis due to blunt trauma is rare.
  • (20) Also, the initial rise in V1 was blunted or blocked in all subjects.

Downright


Definition:

  • (adv.) Straight down; perpendicularly.
  • (adv.) In plain terms; without ceremony.
  • (adv.) Without delay; at once; completely.
  • (a.) Plain; direct; unceremonious; blunt; positive; as, he spoke in his downright way.
  • (a.) Open; artless; undisguised; absolute; unmixed; as, downright atheism.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In The Girl, the relationship moves from Pygmalion to Beauty and the Beast, before curdling into something more mutually destructive, if not downright abusive.
  • (2) Unfortunately, this explosion is mild compared with the number of myths, falsehoods and downright lies which have accompanied these ideas.
  • (3) It was ambitious, experimental and sometimes downright odd – but seductively, compulsively readable too.
  • (4) Patterson agrees that it’s all much more controlled now, but she also wonders whether at times the media can be too negative, doomy, and sometimes downright nasty.
  • (5) Indeed, such parochialism would be downright frowned upon by today's World Cup mentality, considering that both the official anthem and slogan this time round is the typically Fifa-ishly nonsensical, and distinctly Benetton-esque, "We Are One".
  • (6) And it means that if Labour were to win, Mr Brown would be very foolish, indeed downright wrong, to move Mr Darling.
  • (7) In excerpts of these videos I am shown making a series of glib, thoughtless and sometimes downright insulting comments”, Gruber told the committee.
  • (8) Because supply chains are so long and processors use subcontractors to supply meat when the volume of orders changes dramatically at short notice, it is all too easy for mislabelled, poorer quality, or downright fraudulent meat to be substituted for what is specified in big abattoirs and processing plants.
  • (9) They can look downright ladylike, even sexy, and this has caused the high street to go shorts-crazy.
  • (10) 8.24pm BST "The mood is downright miserable" – defense department education activity employee The Guardian's Ruth Spencer ( @ruths ) is in touch with federal workers affected by the shutdown.
  • (11) We do not claim an inch of land that does not belong to us, but we won’t give up any patch that is ours,” the newspaper said , adding: “China, of course, will not accept such downright political provocations.” The China Daily, Beijing’s English-language mouthpiece, claimed the “outrageously one-sided ruling” meant military confrontation in the region had become more likely.
  • (12) Though against Tampa Bay in the ALDS he was downright awful.
  • (13) In other words, it's hilarious to watch when sober, it's downright mindblowing if you're anything but.
  • (14) Of course the polarisation of old and young rests on a fallacy, if not a downright lie: that all young people possess perfect skin and gleaming hair, have non-stop sex, are bursting with energy and are never lonely.
  • (15) Evidence reveals, however, that our planet is an almost unimaginably complicated beast, which reacts to a dramatically changing climate in all manner of different ways; a few – like the aforementioned – straightforward and predictable; some surprising and others downright implausible.
  • (16) These can range from the well-established to the downright eccentric.
  • (17) Despite Downing Street's dismissal of the former president's claim, the conjunction is likely to feed the perceptions of some in China that western concern about human rights is at best selective and at worst downright hypocritical.
  • (18) Many millions of words have been spilt on the subject of the perfect cup of coffee, the vast proportion confusing or downright contradictory.
  • (19) 10.50pm BST 90+1 min: It's a measure of how downright German the Germans are that Manuel Neuer and his defenders were absolutely furious with each other for allowing Brazil to score that late goal.
  • (20) Whitehall eventually intervened, with a government inspector ruling: "Any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky."