different between soothe vs numb

English

Etymology

From Middle English sothen (“to verify, prove the validity of”), from Old English s?þian (“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”), from Proto-Germanic *sanþ?n? (“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?es- (“to be”). Cognate with Danish sande (“to verify”), Swedish sanna (“to verify”), Icelandic sanna (“to verify”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (suþjan), ???????????????????????? (suþj?n, “to soothe”). See also: sooth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su?ð/
• Rhymes: -u?ð

Verb

soothe (third-person singular simple present soothes, present participle soothing, simple past and past participle soothed)

1. (transitive) To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.
   • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Andros Townsend calms England's nerves in taming of Montenegro (in The Guardian, 11 October 2013)[1]

     Yet Wayne Rooney scored at a good time, three minutes after the restart, to soothe any gathering nerves and the night can ultimately be chalked off as one of the finest occasions of Hodgson's 17 months in the job.

2. (transitive) To allay; assuage; mitigate; soften.
3. (transitive, rare) To smooth over; render less obnoxious.
4. (transitive) To calm or placate someone or some situation.
5. (transitive) To ease or relieve pain or suffering.
   • 1976, The Wurzels, I Am A Cider Drinker

     I am a cider drinker,

     I drinks it all of the day,

     I am a cider drinker,

     it soothes all me troubles away,

6. (intransitive) To temporise by assent, concession, flattery, or cajolery.
7. (intransitive) To bring comfort or relief.
8. (transitive) To keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To prove true; verify; confirm as true.
10. (transitive, obsolete) To confirm the statements of; maintain the truthfulness of (a person); bear out.
11. (transitive, obsolete) To assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.

Synonyms

• (humour by agreement or concession): comply, give way; See also Thesaurus:accede

Derived terms

• soothing, soothsayer

Translations

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