numbness
/ˈnʌmnəs/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈnʌmnəs/ (ame, ipa)
numbness — noun
1. the condition of having little or no sense of touch or temperature in one area o
the condition of having little or no sense of touch or temperature in one area of the body, often after cold weather, an injury, or medical treatment.
Sade noticed a strange numbness in her right hand after the long bicycle ride home.
collocation: numbness in [body part]
The dentist warned that numbness around the lower jaw would last about two hours after the injection.
typical medical context: numbness after anaesthesia
Cyrus rubbed his toes hard to drive away the numbness caused by the freezing mountain air.
Sudden numbness on one side of the face can be an early warning sign of a stroke.
After hours of typing, Yuna felt a dull numbness creeping along her left arm.
- deadness
less common in medical contexts; more figurative
- insensitivity
broader; includes lack of emotional response, not only physical
- paralysis
more severe — implies inability to move, not just loss of sensation
- sensitivity
the normal ability to feel touch, pain, temperature
文法句型
numbness in [body part]
用法筆記
Frequently appears with the preposition 'in' to locate the affected area (numbness in the legs, in the fingers). Often paired with a cause clause ('caused by', 'after', 'from').
常見錯誤
2. an inability to feel emotion, think clearly, or respond normally to events, usua
an inability to feel emotion, think clearly, or respond normally to events, usually because of grief, shock, or a deeply distressing experience.
In the days after the funeral, Eve described feeling only a strange emotional numbness.
collocation: emotional numbness, after a loss
A heavy numbness settled over Diego when he learned that the factory would close for good.
Survivors often speak of an initial numbness that prevents them from crying or feeling fear.
Piotr stared at the wreckage of his car with a kind of dazed numbness he could not shake off.
Years of bad news from the war zone had left the journalist with a quiet numbness toward suffering.
- shock
narrower — the immediate state right after a distressing event
- detachment
more deliberate or chronic; less tied to a specific shock
- apathy
long-term lack of interest in general, not a reaction to one event
- engagement
active emotional involvement
文法句型
a sense of numbness
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1 by the trigger: sense 1 is physical (cold, injury, drugs), sense 2 is emotional (shock, grief, trauma). Often modified by 'emotional', 'dazed', 'inner', or paired with 'shock' / 'grief' as a cause.