blunt instrument
noun
: an object without sharp edges or points that is used as a club
He was hit over the head with a blunt instrument.
Examples of blunt instrument in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For decades, chemotherapy was the blunt instrument of breast cancer care—effective, but often at the expense of a patient’s overall well-being.
—
Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 21 Oct. 2025
Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have made the fight to reopen the government about healthcare, specifically through the blunt instrument of expiring tax credits under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025
The American Journal of Managed Care reported that the initiative is expected to face legal challenges and could prove difficult to implement, with industry analysts warning that the plan risks acting as a blunt instrument rather than a workable solution.
—Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
This one looks quirkier than Josh’s more blunt instrument (no pun intended, Emily), but Chalamet has scored at the December box office two years in a row now (Wonka in 2023, A Complete Unknown last year).
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2025
However, the Council misfired with the blunt instrument of a broad prohibition that could be read extraordinarily widely, including to even prevent temporarily moving someone to a separate cell after a violent altercation had broken out.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 13 July 2025
While versions varied of what went down in the stable, the coroner’s report on Kirk’s death was straightforward: He’d been bashed in the head with at least one blunt instrument and strangled with the rope around his neck.
—Amber Hunt, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
But on January 11, 1937, a young man hunting rabbits south of Everett finds Charles’s naked, battered body dumped in a thicket of alders, knifed in the back and beaten in the head with a blunt instrument.
—Caroline Fraser
june 10, Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
Bear with me because there's a great deal of nuance here that is easy to miss among today's more impassioned reactions to people using AI as a blunt instrument of creating mediocrity.
—ArsTechnica, 25 Apr. 2025
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Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 21 Oct. 2025
Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have made the fight to reopen the government about healthcare, specifically through the blunt instrument of expiring tax credits under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025
The American Journal of Managed Care reported that the initiative is expected to face legal challenges and could prove difficult to implement, with industry analysts warning that the plan risks acting as a blunt instrument rather than a workable solution.
—Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
This one looks quirkier than Josh’s more blunt instrument (no pun intended, Emily), but Chalamet has scored at the December box office two years in a row now (Wonka in 2023, A Complete Unknown last year).
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2025
However, the Council misfired with the blunt instrument of a broad prohibition that could be read extraordinarily widely, including to even prevent temporarily moving someone to a separate cell after a violent altercation had broken out.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 13 July 2025
While versions varied of what went down in the stable, the coroner’s report on Kirk’s death was straightforward: He’d been bashed in the head with at least one blunt instrument and strangled with the rope around his neck.
—Amber Hunt, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
But on January 11, 1937, a young man hunting rabbits south of Everett finds Charles’s naked, battered body dumped in a thicket of alders, knifed in the back and beaten in the head with a blunt instrument.
—Caroline Fraser
june 10, Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
Bear with me because there's a great deal of nuance here that is easy to miss among today's more impassioned reactions to people using AI as a blunt instrument of creating mediocrity.
—ArsTechnica, 25 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Blunt instrument.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blunt%20instrument. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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