numbness

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numb

(nŭm)

adj. numb·er, numb·est

1. Deprived of the power to feel or move normally; benumbed: toes numb with cold; too numb with fear to cry out.

2. Emotionally unresponsive; indifferent: numb to yet another appeal.

tr. & intr.v. numbed, numb·ing, numbs

To make or become numb.

[Middle English nome, variant of nomin, past participle of nimen, to seize, from Old English niman; see nem- in Indo-European roots.]

numb′ly adv.

numb′ness n.

Word History: Old English had a number of strong verbs (often loosely called "irregular" verbs) that did not survive into Modern English. One such was the verb niman, "to take," later replaced by take, a borrowing from Old Norse. The verb had a past tense nam and a past participle numen; if the verb had survived, it would likely have become nim, nam, num, like swim, swam, swum. Although we do not have the verb as such anymore, its past participle is alive and well, now spelled numb, literally "taken, seized," as by cold or grief. (The older spelling without the b is still seen in the compound numskull.) The verb also lives on indirectly in the word nimble, which used to mean "quick to take," and then later "light, quick on one's feet."

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun	1.	numbness - partial or total lack of sensation in a part of the body; a symptom of nerve damage or dysfunction symptom - (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
	2.	numbness - the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things generally spiritlessness, apathy, indifference passivity, passiveness - the trait of remaining inactive; a lack of initiative

numbness

noun

1. deadness, paralysis, insensitivity, dullness, torpor, insensibility I have recently been suffering from numbness in my fingers and toes.

2. deadness, dullness, torpor, stupefaction She swung from emotional numbness to overwhelming fear and back again.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

تَخَدُّر، فُقْدان الحِس

otupělostznecitlivění

følelsesløshed

Taubheit

μούδιασμα

engourdissement

zsibbadtság

dofi, tilfinningaleysi

intorpidimento

znecitlivenie

hissizlikuyuşmauyuşukluk

麻木麻痹

numbness

[ˈnʌmnɪs] N

1. (lit) I had a feeling of numbness in my legs → se me habían dormido las piernas; (from cold) → tenía las piernas entumecidas

2. (fig) (from grief, fear, shock) → atontamiento m
a feeling of numbness overcame me → me quedé atontado

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

numbness

[ˈnʌmnɪs] n

(physical) → engourdissement m

(emotional) → paralysie f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

numbness

n (of limbs etc) → Taubheit f, → Starre f; (fig: of mind, senses) → Benommenheit f, → Betäubung f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

numbness

[ˈnʌmnɪs] n → intorpidimento; (due to cold) → intirizzimento

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

numb

(nam) adjective

not able to feel or move. My arm has gone numb; She was numb with cold.

verb

to make numb. The cold numbed her fingers.

ˈnumbly adverb

ˈnumbness noun

numb·ness

n. [in a part] entumecimiento, adormecimiento; [confusion] aturdimiento, entorpecimiento.

numbness

n entumecimiento, adormecimiento, pérdida de sensibilidad

References in classic literature ?

Belated, and not innocently, one bitter winter's midnight, on the road running between two country towns, the blacksmith half-stupidly felt the deadly numbness stealing over him, and sought refuge in a leaning, dilapidated barn.

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On the contrary, all I knew was the dull numbness of a brain that was not worked at all.

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Gradually weariness grew upon me; a numbness, an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst of my terrors, until sleep at last supervened and in my sea-tossed coracle I lay and dreamed of home and the old Admiral Benbow.

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Some have such a vast appetite for the former commodity, that is, the news, and such sound digestive organs, that they can sit forever in public avenues without stirring, and let it simmer and whisper through them like the Etesian winds, or as if inhaling ether, it only producing numbness and insensibility to pain -- otherwise it would often be painful to bear -- without affecting the consciousness.

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Only Ralph's presence, as she knew, preserved this numbness, for she could foresee a time of loneliness when many varieties of pain would beset her.

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In fact, my attention was almost wholly absorbed in my dinner: not from ravenous appetite, but from distress at the toughness of the beefsteaks, and the numbness of my hands, almost palsied by their five-hours' exposure to the bitter wind.

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Ah Moy, had he not long since been delivered back to China by the immigration authorities, could have told him the meaning of that swelling, just as he could have told Dag Daughtry the meaning of the increasing area of numbness between his eyes where the tiny, vertical, lion-lines were cutting more conspicuously.

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Yet, in spite of this numbness of feeling, he suffered keenly at the thought of passing under the windows of his good little Fairy's house.

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Then, in a moment, May was beside him, such radiance streaming from her that it sent a faint warmth through his numbness, and he straightened himself and smiled into her eyes.

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The numbness was running up her arms to her elbows.

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He walked up and down, batting his head savagely with his fists, but he could not conquer the numbness of sleep.

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I had no sensation whatever in my lower limbs, while a chilling numbness was wrapping about my heart and creeping into it.