different between numb vs numbed

numb

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

numb From the web:

  • what number
  • what number is may
  • what number is june
  • what number month is may
  • what number month is april
  • what number month is june
  • what number is iv
  • what number day of the year is it


numbed

English

Verb

numbed

  1. simple past tense and past participle of numb

Anagrams

  • Ndembu, dumben

numbed From the web:

  • what number
  • what number is may
  • what number is june
  • what number month is may
  • what number month is april
  • what number is july
  • what number month is june
  • what number is iv
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