1
: unable to feel anything in a particular part of your body especially as a result of cold or anesthesia
It was so cold that my fingers went numb.
2
: unable to think, feel, or react normally because of something that shocks or upsets you : indifferent
He stood there numb with fear.
numbness
noun
numbed; numbing
: to make (someone or something) numb: such as
a
: to cause (a part of the body) to lose sensation
hands numbed by the cold
The injection will numb the area to be operated on.
b
: to impair in force or sensation : deaden
trying to numb the pain
c
: to make (someone) unable to think, feel, or react normally
But there is no humor in Natural Born Killers. It is a relentlessly bloody story designed to shock us and to numb us further to the senselessness of reckless murder.—Michael Shnayerson
In her last book, Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag disputes the notion that viewers are numbed by an onslaught of photographed calamities.—Dennis Lim
But Madame Melmotte was neither crushed by grief nor did she affect to be so crushed. She had been numbed by the suddenness and by the awe of the catastrophe.—Anthony Trolloppe
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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