numbness

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   A loss of feeling in a part of the body, often caused by cold, injury, or nerve damage.

   Grammar: Uncountable; used with 'a' only when modified: a numbness in my fingers.

   Patterns

   • numbness in something
   • cause numbness
   • feel numbness

   After sitting on the cold floor, she felt numbness in her legs.

   The dentist's injection caused numbness in his jaw for hours.

2. 2noununcountable

   An inability to feel emotions, often after a shock or grief.

   Grammar: Uncountable; often used with 'emotional' or 'a sense of'.

   Patterns

   • emotional numbness
   • a sense of numbness
   • numbness after something

   After the accident, he experienced a deep emotional numbness.

   She went through the funeral in a state of numbness.

Common combinations

numbness in the fingers

He complained of numbness in his fingers after the injury.

emotional numbness

Depression can cause emotional numbness.

tingling and numbness

The condition causes tingling and numbness in the hands.

Synonyms and how they differ

insensitivity

A more general lack of sensitivity; 'numbness' often implies a physical or emotional deadening.

deadness

Can mean lack of feeling, but is more often used for lack of excitement or life.

Opposites

Word family

numb adjective

Having no feeling: My fingers are numb.

numbly adverb

In a way that shows no feeling: She numbly agreed.

numb verb

To make someone unable to feel: The cold numbed my hands.

Commonly confused: numbness or numbness?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “numbness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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