benumb
Americanverb (used with object)
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benumbs,
present (3rd person singular)
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benumbed,
past participle, past
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benumbing
present participle
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to make numb; deprive of sensation.
benumbed by cold.
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to render inactive; deaden or stupefy.
verb
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to make numb or powerless; deaden physical feeling in, as by cold
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(usually passive) to make inactive; stupefy (the mind, senses, will, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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benumbsimple
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benumbssimple
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have benumbedperfect
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has benumbedperfect
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am benumbingprogressive
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are benumbingprogressive
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is benumbingprogressive
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have been benumbingperfect progressive
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has been benumbingperfect progressive
Past
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benumbedsimple
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had benumbedperfect
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was benumbingprogressive
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were benumbingprogressive
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had been benumbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of benumb
1350–1400; back formation from Middle English benomen, past participle of benimen to take away, Old English beniman; cognate with Dutch benemen, German benehmen, Gothic biniman. See be-, nimble, numb
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.
See Examples For:
Invention is kept alive, and the mind is not suffered to fall into that drowsy stupidity, which, in a civilized society, seems to benumb the understanding of the people….
From Forbes ● Aug. 26, 2014
Their effect was to benumb every faculty, and to prostrate every sense; and, as one thus afflicted, sat poor Fanny Rutherford in a chair, at the window of her shabby apartment.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 14 by Various
"But, if they should enchant and benumb you, as they did then," quoth Sancho, "what matters it whether we are in the open field or not?"
From Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
A great horror seemed to come upon him and benumb his body and his senses.
From Frank Merriwell Down South by Burt L. Standish
They had power to benumb every decent feeling in me.
From Blue Aloes Stories of South Africa by Cynthia Stockley
And a humble suggestion for the icy, northwesterly breeze that so often benumbs New York City.
From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2013
From the arctics and antarctics which they explore, they bring a refrigeration that benumbs artistic sensibilities.
From Time Magazine Archive
What assaults the eye often benumbs the brain, but now all the networks are doing the same.
From Time Magazine Archive
After offering some Soviet advance brass a dinner at his canonry, complete with vintage port, he benumbs them with a conducted tour of his cathedral.
From Time Magazine Archive
Vain men, whom hunger pinches, cold benumbs, and poverty emaciates.
From Folk-Lore and Legends: North American Indian by Anonymous
Steinem spoke explicitly about pushing the women’s movement beyond its initial concerns—essentially, the benumbed, unfulfilled flourishing of white middle-class housewives like her own mother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Its importance may have been underestimated by a benumbed Supreme Court press, understandably focused on what is likely to be the Court’s decision.
From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2022
As friends and neighbors watch in silent awe, confused, benumbed, the father lowers the launcher and stage-growls the absolutely unnecessary: “It’s a boy.”
From Washington Post ● May 13, 2021
You wonder if the sudden exposure to so much warmth and acceptance has sent her into shock, or if any feeling has even managed to penetrate her benumbed state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2018
He continued to swim in Dumbledore’s wake, the tips of his benumbed fingers brushing the rough, wet rock.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
I attended and can assure you that, contrary to the glamorously edited videos in the show, they were malfunctioning, formless, benumbing ordeals.
From The New Yorker ● May 22, 2017
Tate Modern's current show Exposed, on surveillance photography, feels intellectually threadbare and aesthetically benumbing.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 9, 2010
If the story line was somewhat benumbing, the dancing was dashing and vigorous.
From Time Magazine Archive
Its book floats, on a rusty keel, all over the Mediterranean and unloads benumbing wheezes at every port of call.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Clinic had prepared me for it, benumbing my sense of shame, and besides, I was desperate for money.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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