numbing

[nuhm-ing]

adjective

1. causing numbness or insensibility; stupefying.

   the numbing effects of grief; a story repeated with numbing regularity.

Other Word Forms

• numbingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of numbing¹

First recorded in 1625–35; numb + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Mr. Leguizamo eases up on the ferociously funny clowning at which he is so expert to emphasize Nelson’s frantic desperation to avoid having to admit he has failed his family, numbing his anxieties with booze.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

But sometime over this last winter — that numbing, hoary stretch between mid-February and March — I decided this might be the year to reclaim a bit of seasonal delight.

Read more on Salon

"Is it, in fact, unhealthy and desensitising and numbing to feel joy when we're surrounded by so much suffering?" he asks.

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Thus, the challenge of continuously documenting and sounding the alarm about how abnormal and dangerous the Age of Trump is while never normalizing it as being somehow quotidian, and therefore numbing.

Read more on Salon

These nimble performers gamely rise to the occasion, but the comic adrenaline at this point has a numbing effect.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bitter 
• bleak 
• brisk 
• chilled 
• cool 
• crisp 
• frigid 
• frosty 
• frozen 
• icy 
• intense 
• raw 
• snowy 
• wintry