Benumb

/biˈnʌm/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To make numb, as by cold or anesthetic..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To make numb, as by cold or anesthetic.
2. (transitive, figurative) To deaden, dull (the mind, faculties, etc.).

Example Sentences

[…] the sayd Phillip […] in the same his pilgrimage was stricken with such colde, that he fell into a palsey, and was benumbed of the right side of his body.

[…] the Cold was insufferable; nor indeed was it more painful than it was surprising, to come but ten Days before out of the old Castile where the Weather was not only warm but very hot, and immediately to feel a Wind from the Pyrenean Mountains, so very keen, so severely cold, as to be intollerable, and to endanger benumbing and perishing of our Fingers and Toes.

‘My hands are so benumbed with the cold that I can scarcely handle my knife and fork.’

[…] If this law Of nature be corrupted through affection, And that great minds, of partial indulgence To their benumbed wills, resist the same, There is a law in each well-order’d nation To curb those raging appetites that are Most disobedient and refractory.

I struggled, and trembled, and was so benumb’d with Terror, that I sunk down, not in a Fit, and yet not myself […]

Sorrowful isolation had benumbed her sense of reality, and the power of distinguishing outward and inward was continually slipping away from her.

Five nights a week, six hours a day, for the next four months—and, fortunately, never again—I made my living by exhibiting the peculiar way I am formed. The Clinic had prepared me for it, benumbing my sense of shame, and besides, I was desperate for money.

Synonyms for benumb

Antonyms for benumb

Related Words

Word Forms

• benumbs
• benumbing
• benumbed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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