- present participle of numb.
numbing
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of numbing
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.
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
While kids in regular public schools put in their numbing hours, students in spreading networks of classical charters get meaty reading assignments—myths, fairy tales, great books—while also memorizing sonnets and elements of America’s founding documents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
"Is it, in fact, unhealthy and desensitising and numbing to feel joy when we're surrounded by so much suffering?" he asks.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2025
Then, in September and October, there were more developments on the legal and personal front that underscored the numbing effect, the purgatory.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
