numb
part of speech
adjective (numb, number — rare, numbest); verb (numb, numbs, numbed, numbing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Numb means a part of your body cannot feel anything, for example from cold or from medicine. tree →
2) Numb means feeling no emotion for a while, after a shock or sad news. tree →
3) To numb is to make a part of the body lose feeling. tree →
sense in the lessons
In health and safety lessons: very cold fingers or toes that go numb and white may be frostbite, so warm them slowly and tell an adult; dentists numb your mouth with an injection so fillings do not hurt; sitting on your leg can make it numb (pins and needles). In stories, numb shows a character in shock. Phrases: go numb, numb with cold, numb with shock.
examples
- My fingers went numb in the snow. tree →
- The dentist numbed my tooth before the filling. tree →
- My leg is numb because I sat on it. tree →
- She felt numb when she heard the sad news. tree →
- Put on gloves before your hands go numb. tree →
- The cold water made my feet numb. tree →
- The cream numbs the skin. tree →
- He was numb with shock after the accident. tree →
- Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. tree →
note
The b is silent: pronounced «num». Trap: the comparative «number» (more numb) is spelled the same as number (1, 2, 3) but said differently; it is rarely used, say «more numb». Noun: numbness.
In the corpora
- A local anaesthetic only numbs one part of the body, and the person stays awake.
- Theo said he'd been «at the dentist», but he had no sticker, no leaflet, no numb mouth.
- Feeling gutted, angry or numb when a parent lets you down is normal.
- Numbing cream put on about an hour before makes the skin numb so a needle or cannula hurts less.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «numb» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.