different between numb vs leaden

English

Etymology

From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”). The final ?b? is a later addition to the spelling; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?m, IPA^(key): /n?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Adjective

numb (comparative number, superlative numbest)

1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.

   Synonyms: deadened, insensible

2. Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.

   numb with shock; numb with boredom

   • 1915, Nellie McClung, In Times Like These, Toronto: McLeod & Allen, Chapter 2,^[1]

     […] when we know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to human misery.

   • 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, 1992, Part One, p. 77,^[2]

     […] seeing the dog—somehow that made me feel again. I’d been too dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it.

   • 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time, Random House Canada, Part Three,^[3]

     […] he submitted […] as a traitor, his mind numb with vodka, submits to a firing squad.

   Synonym: stunned

3. (obsolete) Causing numbness.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 1,^[4]

     […] he did lap me

     Even in his own garments, and gave himself,

     All thin and naked to the numb cold night.

Antonyms

• sensible, sensitive

Derived terms

Related terms

• numskull

Translations

Verb

numb (third-person singular simple present numbs, present participle numbing, simple past and past participle numbed)

1. (transitive) To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).

   Synonym: benumb

2. (transitive) To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
   • 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman” in The Grey Woman and Other Tales, London: Smith, Elder & Co.,^[5]

     [I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.

   Synonym: dull

3. (transitive) To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
   • 1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate” in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, p. 219,^[6]

     […] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]

   • 1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden, Part Four, Chapter 6,^[7]

     The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.

   • 2004, Cory Doctorow, Eastern Standard Tribe, Chapter 13,^[8]

     [The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.

   Synonym: dull

4. (intransitive) To become numb (especially physically).
   • 1918, Lewis R. Freeman, Many Fronts, London: John Murray, “Wonders of the Teleferica,” p. 270,^[9]

     […] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]

   • 1919, Arthur Murray Chisholm, The Land of Strong Men, New York: H.K. Fly, Chapter 18,^[10]

     […] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.

Derived terms

• mind-numbing

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English leden, leaden, from Old English l?aden (“leaden, of lead”), equivalent to lead +? -en. Cognate with West Frisian leaden (“leaden”), Dutch loden (“leaden”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?d?n/
• Rhymes: -?d?n

Adjective

leaden (comparative more leaden, superlative most leaden)

1. (dated) Made of lead.
2. Pertaining to or resembling lead; grey, heavy, sluggish.
   • 1818-1819, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo

     [...] if man be
     The passive thing you say, I should not see
     Much harm in the religions and old saws
     (Tho' I may never own such leaden laws)
     Which break a teachless nature to the yoke.

3. Dull; darkened with overcast.

   the sky was leaden and thick

   • 1999: Stardust, Neil Gaiman, page 31 (2001 Perennial paperback edition)

     "It was at the end of February..., when the world was cold..., when icy rains fell from the leaden skies in continual drizzling showers."

Translations

Verb

leaden (third-person singular simple present leadens, present participle leadening, simple past and past participle leadened)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become dull or overcast.

Anagrams

• Delena, andele, aneled, leaned, nealed

Middle English

Etymology 1

Verb

leaden

1. Alternative form of leden (“to lead”)

Etymology 2

Adjective

leaden

1. Alternative form of leden (“leaden”)

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?læ???.den/

Adjective

l?aden

1. Alternative form of l?eden

Declension