numb
Americanadjective
-
number,
comparative
-
numbest
superlative
-
deprived of physical sensation or the ability to move.
fingers numb with cold.
-
manifesting or resembling numbness.
a numb sensation.
-
incapable of action or of feeling emotion; enervated; prostrate.
numb with grief.
-
lacking or deficient in emotion or feeling; indifferent.
She was numb to their pleas for mercy.
verb (used with object)
-
numbs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
numbed,
past participle, past
-
numbing
present participle
adjective
-
deprived of feeling through cold, shock, etc
-
unable to move; paralysed
-
characteristic of or resembling numbness
a numb sensation
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
numbsimple
-
numbssimple
-
have numbedperfect
-
has numbedperfect
-
am numbingprogressive
-
are numbingprogressive
-
is numbingprogressive
-
have been numbingperfect progressive
-
has been numbingperfect progressive
Past
-
numbedsimple
-
had numbedperfect
-
was numbingprogressive
-
were numbingprogressive
-
had been numbingperfect progressive
Future
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”; cf. nim 1
Explanation
Numb is an adjective that describes a lack of sensation. After skiing all day, your toes might be numb from the cold. You'd feel numb for hours after hearing that your favorite band broke up. People can feel numb in terms of their feelings and emotions. For example, if you've had your heart broken lots of times, you start to become numb — the breakups don't upset you so much. Numb can also describe being so frightened that you can't move, like being numb with fear when you saw the bear near your campsite. Numb can also mean "to make insensitive," like when the dentist numbs your gums so you won't feel any pain.
Vocabulary lists containing numb
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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Lesson 1
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The Circuit
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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:
Carmel McConnellogue said she could not speak or feel her face and "everything was numb"
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Former matchmaker Lily Womble says she has seen daters over-emphasize the data, causing them to minimize or numb the feelings they get in the presence of a potential partner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Less common symptoms include a cold, numb leg or a cough.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
“We feel the need to humanize Iranians because Americans are used to seeing all those lands as numbers or rubble or desert, and that makes us numb to what happens there,” Wilson said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026
Her up-close vision isn’t good, even under the best of circumstances, and it doesn’t help that the cold presses through the glass, making our fingers numb and clumsy.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Marked by frugal ingredients and a number of vegetarian main courses, Genoese food at its best seems simple but tastes complex.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
He functions as a deep-lying conductor and would complement Anderson, who is comfortable as a box-to-box midfielder as well as the number six role he plays for England.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
The number and variety of plants increased over time, including locally rare species such as southern marsh orchid, greater tussock-sedge, yellow rattle and common centaury.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
But talk to those who know Boobie best, and they’ll tell you that age, in his case, is merely a number.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
“Pretty tough to be a Cat Person living here so close to Dog Street,” Max said, and I suspected that might be true for any number of people.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
So perhaps it’s fitting that the most recent addition to this sad subgenre is the numbest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2025
“It might be that we’re killing it, or that’s it’s slowly dying because we’re reducing it to its numbest form, but I don’t think that has to be,” she said.
From Slate ● Mar. 8, 2019
Relationships falter because videogames get in the way, and life dissolves into a virtual reality that numbs the pain meant to drive our growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
The local anaesthetic numbs the nerves in the short term.
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2024
The native of Puebla, Mexico, suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis, which sometimes numbs the joints in his hands, making it difficult to work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2023
Director Peyton Reed’s effort often numbs and overwhelms with too-flashy effects, an abundance of characters and head-shaking, multi-army battles that will require frame-by-frame analysis to ever possibly appreciate the visual complexities.
From Washington Times ● May 17, 2023
"Anything stronger than Belle-rose numbs the blood, Your Highness. The arcana will not work."
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Some contend that numbed investors to the threat, keeping yields and borrowing costs lower than they should have been.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
The numbed stage: The only cease-fire is in the markets.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
That when that final envelope was opened, we’d be on the edge of our seats... or at the very least not completely numbed to the inevitability of the winners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2025
“We are numbed by the science, puzzled by jargon, paralyzed by predictions, confused about what actions to take, stressed as we scramble to care for our family, or simply impoverished, overworked, and tired,” Hawken writes.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2025
Day after day, Harriet listened as all six of them complained bitterly about the cold that stung their faces, numbed their fingers, frosted their feet.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
Each time I chipped away at my football-induced telecom debt, I felt a numbing angst that it was as if the World Cup had never happened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
We all know the feeling of doom-scrolling, the mindless numbing of the brain.
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
The numbing lidocaine was injected first and sprayed down my windpipe, making me feel as if I were drowning.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026
This awful situation highlights TV’s ability to unite its otherwise fractured audience, despite years of scripted and unscripted content numbing us to the worst acts people commit against one another.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
So Hazel flung herself into the thin layer of icy slushy watery mess and rolled around in it, numbing her skin until she was part ice cube herself.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
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.
