numbly
Americanadverb
-
without physical sensation or the ability to move.
It was a spicy dish, but it was kind of fun to bite into the peppers and wait numbly till I could use my mouth again!
-
in a way characterized by an inability to act or to feel emotion, as after a great shock or when severely depressed.
Exhausted and traumatized, she numbly watched as others ran to salvage what they could from the wreckage of the building.
Sometimes you can go through life asleep, lulled by the routine, pushing through numbly to the next thing.
Etymology
Origin of numbly
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.
For here lie children numbly bearing witness to the latest food crisis to ravage northern Ethiopia.
From BBC • Feb. 5, 2024
Dr. Samer al-Sheikh stared numbly at the photograph of himself on his phone.
From New York Times • Jul. 8, 2023
But after that stale and lifeless performance, most of them just sat there numbly, repeating their talking points from earlier in the day.
From Salon • Nov. 16, 2022
He numbly pulled on a neoprene suit he used for fishing on cold winter days and wrapped his feet in plastic bags.
From Seattle Times • May 4, 2022
She numbly accepted apologies from the Shaw family.
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.
