Numb
adj, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally). transitive
"The dentist gave me novocaine to numb my tooth before drilling, thank goodness."
- 2 make numb or insensitive wordnet
- 3 To cause (a feeling) to be less intense. transitive
"He turned to alcohol to numb his pain."
- 4 To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute. transitive
"[…] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]"
- 5 To become numb (especially physically). intransitive
"[…] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]"
- 1 Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.
"fingers numb with cold"
- 2 Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.
"numb with shock; numb with boredom"
- 3 Dumb or stupid. Maine
- 4 Causing numbness. obsolete
"[…] he did lap me Even in his own garments, and gave himself, All thin and naked to the numb cold night."
- 1 so frightened as to be unable to move; stunned or paralyzed with terror; petrified wordnet
- 2 lacking sensation wordnet
- 3 (followed by ‘to’) not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"My hands are numb from the cold."
Etymology
From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”) and Old Norse numinn. The final ⟨b⟩ is a later addition; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.
Related phrases
More for "numb"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.