different between numb vs polar

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 Late Latin pol?ris , equivalent to pole + -ar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p???l?(?)/, [?p????l?(?)]
• (US) IPA^(key): /?po??l?/, [?p?o??l?]
• Rhymes: -??l?(?)

Adjective

polar (not comparable)

1. Of or having a pole or polarity.
2. (geography) Of, relating to, measured from, or referred to a geographic pole (the North Pole or South Pole); within the Arctic or Antarctic circles.
3. (space sciences) Of an orbit that passes over, or near, one of these poles.
4. (chemistry) Having a dipole; ionic.
5. (mathematics) Of a coordinate system, specifying the location of a point in a plane by using a radius and an angle.
6. (linguistics, of a question) Having but two possible answers, yes and no.

Derived terms

• polar bear
• polar nucleus
• polar opposite

Translations

Noun

polar (plural polars)

1. (geometry) The line joining the points of contact of tangents drawn to meet a curve from a point called the pole of the line.

Anagrams

• ROLAP, parol, poral

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /po?la/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /pu?la/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /po?la?/

Adjective

polar (masculine and feminine plural polars)

1. polar

Derived terms

• ós polar

French

Etymology

From policier +? -ard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.la?/

Noun

polar m (plural polars)

1. (informal) detective novel

Further reading

• “polar” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Pronunciation

Adjective

polar m or f (plural polares)

1. polar

Antonyms

• apolar

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /po?la???/

Adjective

polar (not comparable)

1. polar

Declension

Derived terms

• Polarmeer
• Polarnacht

Further reading

• “polar” in Duden online

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From the noun pol

Pronunciation

Adjective

polar (neuter singular polart, definite singular and plural polare)

1. polar

Derived terms

• polarisere
• polarsirkel

References

• “polar” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From the noun pol

Adjective

polar (neuter singular polart, definite singular and plural polare)

1. polar

Derived terms

• polarisere
• polarsirkel

Etymology 2

Noun

polar m

1. indefinite plural of pol

References

• “polar” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pol?ris, Italian polare and French polaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /po?lar/

Adjective

polar m or n (feminine singular polar?, masculine plural polari, feminine and neuter plural polare)

1. polar

Declension

Derived terms

• urs polar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /po?la?/, [po?la?]
• Hyphenation: po?lar

Adjective

polar (plural polares)

1. polar

Derived terms

• apolar
• casquete polar
• estrella polar
• oso polar
• polaridad

Related terms

• polo

Further reading

• “polar” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.