roundabout or ambiguous; "attacks from that source amounted to a backhanded compliment to his integrity"; "a backhanded and dishonest way of reaching his goal"
involving the entire earth; not limited or provincial in scope; "global war"; "global monetary policy"; "neither national nor continental but planetary"; "a world crisis"; "of worldwide significance"
direct and obvious in meaning or reference; often unpleasant; "a pointed critique"; "a pointed allusion to what was going on"; "another pointed look in their direction"