numb

[nuhm]

adjective

number, numbest 

1. deprived of physical sensation or the ability to move.

   fingers numb with cold.

2. manifesting or resembling numbness.

   a numb sensation.

3. incapable of action or of feeling emotion; enervated; prostrate.

   numb with grief.

4. lacking or deficient in emotion or feeling; indifferent.

   She was numb to their pleas for mercy.

verb (used with object)

1. to make numb.

numb

/ nʌm /

adjective

1. deprived of feeling through cold, shock, etc

2. unable to move; paralysed

3. characteristic of or resembling numbness

   a numb sensation

verb

1. to make numb; deaden, shock, or paralyse

Other Word Forms

• numbly adverb
• numbness noun
• half-numb adjective
• unnumbed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of numb¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of numb¹

C15: nomen, literally: taken (with paralysis), from Old English niman to take; related to Old Norse nema, Old High German niman

Example Sentences

Supporters can numb their pain, at least until they wake up on Sunday morning and find a ticket for the third day of the first Ashes Test is now nothing more than an expensive bookmark.

Read more on BBC

Despite the name, these aren’t peppers at all but members of the citrus family that trigger a numbing, tingling sensation on the tongue.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

From time to time, it’s normal to feel numb to your job.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Part of me wants to tell her how I truly feel about Grandma being gone forever—how I feel numb to almost everything, or how my life feels like a thick, endless fog now.

Read more on Literature

She no longer complained of nerves; in fact, she seemed numb of all feeling except a kind of stone-faced endurance, like a prisoner waiting to be called to the gallows.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• anesthetize 
• desensitize 
• dull 
• paralyze 
• stupefy