FreeScrabbleDictionary

numb

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
8
Words With Friends
12
Letters
4
Pronunciation
/nʌm/

Definition of numb

8 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.
    “fingers numb with cold”
    “legs numb from kneeling”
See all 8 definitions

adj

  1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.
    “fingers numb with cold”
    “legs numb from kneeling”
  2. Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.
    “numb with shock; numb with boredom”
    “[…] when we know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to human misery.”
    “[…] seeing the dog—somehow that made me feel again. I’d been too dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it.”
    “[…] he submitted […] as a traitor, his mind numb with vodka, submits to a firing squad.”
  3. (Maine)Dumb or stupid.
  4. (obsolete)Causing numbness.
    “[…] he did lap me Even in his own garments, and gave himself, All thin and naked to the numb cold night.”

verb

  1. (transitive)To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).
    “The dentist gave me novocaine to numb my tooth before drilling, thank goodness.”
    “When I first heard the news, I was numbed by the shock.”
    “The ravviſh danke of clumzie vvinter ramps / The fluent ſummers vaine: and drizling ſleete / Chilleth the vvan bleak cheek of the numd earth, / VVhilſt ſnarling guſts nibble the iuyceles leaues, / From the nak't ſhuddring branch; […]”
    “But her main concern is the hard seating that numbs the nether regions.”
  2. (transitive)To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
    “He turned to alcohol to numb his pain.”
    “[I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.”
  3. (transitive)To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
    “[…] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]”
    “The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.”
    “[The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.”
  4. (intransitive)To become numb (especially physically).
    “[…] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]”
    “[…] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”) and Old Norse numinn. The final ⟨b⟩ is a later addition; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.

Words you can make from numb

8 playable · top: BUM (7 pts)

Best play bum 7 points

3-letter words

3 words

2-letter words

4 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to numb to make another valid word.

Back

Find your best play with numb

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes numb, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.

Find more plays Browse word lists