numb
Americanadjective
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deprived of physical sensation or the ability to move.
fingers numb with cold.
-
manifesting or resembling numbness.
a numb sensation.
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incapable of action or of feeling emotion; enervated; prostrate.
numb with grief.
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lacking or deficient in emotion or feeling; indifferent.
She was numb to their pleas for mercy.
verb (used with object)
adjective
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deprived of feeling through cold, shock, etc
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unable to move; paralysed
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characteristic of or resembling numbness
a numb sensation
verb
Other Word Forms
- half-numb adjective
- numbly adverb
- numbness noun
- unnumbed adjective
Etymology
Origin of numb
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English nome, literally, “taken, seized,” variant of nomen, numen, Old English numen, past participle of niman “to take, steal”; nim 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A community in Londonderry has been left "numb" and "in shock" following the deaths of two young friends in a crash across the border in Donegal, according to a grief counsellor.
From BBC
"The next phase of feelings were just numb," he says of the days after Freeman fled.
From BBC
Then a numb feeling of doubt started creeping in on me.
From Literature
I went back to bed with the gold threads wound tightly around my finger, making it numb and tingly.
From Literature
He wanted to stay numb and ignorant and safe.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
