as in to reduce
to reduce or weaken in strength or feeling
a succession of personal tragedies had benumbed him to all grief
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Recent Examples of benumb
Because both actors look like lumpish proletarian versions of Ingmar Bergman stars — Alma Pöysti, radiant yet benumbed, plays Ansa like a dish-towel Bibi Andersson, and Jussi Vatanen could be the schlump brother of Max von Sydow (with a dollop of Ryan Gosling).
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Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 23 May 2023
What’s destructive, and eventually benumbing, is the kitchen-sink clutter of fantasy, reality, wish-fulfillment and glib enchantment.
—Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 24 Jan. 2019
But her core insight into how even mediocrities can be institutionally benumbed and conscripted into heinous projects remains fertile.
—George Prochnik, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2018
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 23 May 2023
What’s destructive, and eventually benumbing, is the kitchen-sink clutter of fantasy, reality, wish-fulfillment and glib enchantment.
—Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 24 Jan. 2019
But her core insight into how even mediocrities can be institutionally benumbed and conscripted into heinous projects remains fertile.
—George Prochnik, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for benumb
Verb
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Surgery can benefit from real-time AI explanations and XR visualizations to reduce patient anxiety, while oncology can simplify complex treatment plans for better decision making.Alon Zuckerman, Forbes, 16 Dec. 2024
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Light pollution significantly reduces visibility of meteors.Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024
Verb
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The previous Traverse wasn't a sports car either, but the height and the width of the new SUV dull its road manners.Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024
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Tequila and heroin can only dull the pain for so long before Lee’s desperate yearning for something more cuts through the haze and sends him back out into dingy bars and narrow alleys, prowling with a predatory lust for men.David Opie, IndieWire, 7 Dec. 2024
Verb
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In recent days, army troops scrambled to Hama in an effort to blunt the rebels’ momentum.Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2024
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The latter measure blunted the risk China’s missile systems pose to U.S. forces near China and allowed the United States to operate more flexibly and resiliently.Rush Doshi, Foreign Affairs, 29 Nov. 2024
Verb
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The numbing, rinse-repeat repetition is still a grind.David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Dec. 2024
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Today, brain rot reflects a worry that consuming the internet's endless waves of memes and video clips, especially on social media, might numb one's noggin.Bill Chappell, NPR, 2 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Climate change exacerbates the threats with rising temperatures disrupting migration patterns and diminishing the availability of milkweed, the monarch caterpillar's essential food source.Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
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Helping to model that behavior and normalizing outreach for support is a great way to diminish the stigma.Subha Barry, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
Verb
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In addition, hiring has slowed a bit in recent months, raising the risk that the economy could weaken in the coming months.Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
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Too much water can cause the fibers to weaken, become brittle, and break.Ashlyn Needham, Southern Living, 11 Dec. 2024
Verb
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One way of deadening the mind to distractions is by blowing opponents off the court.Tim Ellis, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
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Simplicity, understood like this, is complexity well tended, just as a long, graceful line is a collection of stubby ones, tamed but not deadened.Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
Verb
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The tension subsides only in the last iteration, as the bare interval A-E swells and then breaks off.Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024
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The foul odors subsided when the facility closed in 2014, but a decade later, the infrastructure sits as a 47-acre blighted industrial property on the edge of the Santa Cruz River.John Leos, The Arizona Republic, 1 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near benumb
Cite this Entry
“Benumb.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/benumb. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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