numbness

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈnʌmnəs/ UK /ˈnʌmnəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
loss of sensation or feeling; emotional deadening

A creeping numbness spread through his frozen fingers.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · loss of sensation or... insensibility deadness torpor anesthesia paralysis insensitivity

Opposites

sensation feeling sensitivity

Word family

Related forms numb

Etymology

From numb + -ness; numb is from Middle English nomen ('taken, seized'), past participle of nimen ('to take'), from Old English niman ('to take'), the sense being 'deprived of feeling, taken'.

niman Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# numbness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈnʌmnəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈnʌmnəs/

## Meanings
1. loss of sensation or feeling; emotional deadening

## Examples
- A creeping numbness spread through his frozen fingers.

## Synonyms
- insensibility
- deadness
- torpor
- anesthesia
- paralysis
- insensitivity

## Antonyms
- sensation
- feeling
- sensitivity

## Related Forms
- numb

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: niman

## Etymology
From numb + -ness; numb is from Middle English nomen ('taken, seized'), past participle of nimen ('to take'), from Old English niman ('to take'), the sense being 'deprived of feeling, taken'.

## AI Etymology
Numbness is from numb + -ness; numb is from Middle English nomen ('taken, seized'), past participle of nimen ('to take'), from Old English niman ('to take'), the sense being 'deprived of feeling, taken'. Important recorded forms include niman (Old English). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers loss of sensation or feeling; emotional deadening. The wider family includes related words such as numb.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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