Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Deprived of the power to feel or move normally; benumbed: toes numb with cold; too numb with fear to cry out.
- adj. Emotionally unresponsive; indifferent: numb to yet another appeal.
- v. To make or become numb.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Taken; seized.
- Deprived of the power of sensation, as from a stoppage of the circulation; torpid; hence, stupefied; powerless to feel or act: as, fingers numb with cold; numb senses.
- Producing numbness; benumbing.
- Synonyms Benumbed, deadened, paralyzed, insensible.
- To deprive of the power of sensation; dull tho sense of feeling in; benumb; render torpid.
- To render dull; deaden; stupefy.
Wiktionary
- adj. Without the power of sensation and motion or feeling; insensible.
- v. To cause to become numb.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Enfeebled in, or destitute of, the power of sensation and motion; rendered torpid; benumbed; insensible.
- adj. Producing numbness; benumbing.
- v. To make numb; to deprive of the power of sensation or motion; to render senseless or inert; to deaden; to benumb; to stupefy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. so frightened as to be unable to move; stunned or paralyzed with terror; petrified.
- adj. (followed by `to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive.
- adj. lacking sensation
- v. make numb or insensitive
Etymologies
- Middle English nome, variant of nomin, past participle of nimen, to seize, from Old English niman; see nem- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“She was flushed, sweating, her expression numb with fear.”
“In David Hewsons masterful new novel of suspense, Detective Nic Costa, numb from the recent death of his wife, finds himself and his fellow detectives drawn into a strange and terrifying limbothe first of Dantes nine circles of Hell.”
“In those chill early hours we slept little, huddling together in numb misery and waiting for the sunrise in order to get warm.”
“But trout fishing has so many little subtle techniques that need to be refined to be truly good at it, and then you have to tie on those teeny flies when your fingers are numb from the cold water ...”
“Shocked and numb from the Sept. 26 death of her star player, the Arizona coach couldn't fathom a season without Shawntinice Polk.”
USATODAY.com - Smith: 'Zona to retire Polkey's jersey on Senior Night
“Which was a hundred-percent improvement from before, when the accident had left him numb from the waist down.”
365 tomorrows » 2006 » June : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“Most folks are just plain numb from being screwed by the Gov constantly ..... and don't give a rat's flatulence.”
“Shocked and numb from the Sept. 26 death of her star player, the Arizona coach couldn't fathom a season without Shawntinice”
“Are we so numb from the new things that CGI brings us that we no longer notice what is fantastic vs what is real around us?”
“His sword arm was a callused club, numb from the elbow down.”
Orbit Books Free Sample SciFi Fantasy Book: The Future Is Now 30 | SciFi UK Review
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘numb’.
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The Universal Calculator
Obviates the need for other devices or calculations--it will have a button for everything, and it will solve everything.
qwerty keyboard, shift key, control, home, end, pause, log, sin, space, enter, plus, numb and 237 more...
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lost in translation
As a native Spanish speaker, I always found it easy to find words that were missing in the English language that conveyed the precise meaning I cared for in Spanish. In undertaking a writing projec...
surreptitious, elusive, nondescript, demeanor, mannerisms, nonsensical, numb, obfuscate, pervaded, preemptive, stagnate, resilient and 5 more...
lampbane "I've become so numb I can't feel you there
Become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you" Jan 10, 2007