as in apathy
a lack of emotion or emotional expressiveness
the prisoner exhibited the numbness of someone who had spent more years behind bars than he could remember
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Recent Examples of numbness
What followed wasn’t numbness so much as a necessary adaptation for survival.
—
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 7 Apr. 2026
The numbness remained even when he was told that his daughter’s condition would likely improve with a stem cell transplant—his fear of a terminal diagnosis could be assuaged.
—Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
If not treated early, the infection can progress to more serious symptoms, such as joint swelling and arthritis, nerve pain, tingling or numbness, facial muscle weakness, heart inflammation and difficulties with memory or concentration.
—Emily Bache, The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2026
Keeping one breast leaves a small chance that the cancer will return, but Simpson said the possibility was worth it to her to avoid numbness across much of her chest from having the nerves removed along with the mammary tissue.
—Meg Wingerter, Denver Post, 11 Mar. 2026
Both her grief and numbness are palpably captured by De Pue’s camera.
—Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026
Pay attention, however, to warning signs such as numbness, tingling, sharp pain, or next-day joint swelling, Wickham added.
—Danielle Zickl, Health, 26 Feb. 2026
Her sleep was getting worse, and the tingling numbness in her hands returned.
—Sarah Boden, NPR, 26 Feb. 2026
Frostbite symptoms include redness or skin pain, white or grayish-yellow skin areas, skin that feels unusually firm or waxy and numbness, according to the CDC.
—Yi-Jin Yu, ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 7 Apr. 2026
The numbness remained even when he was told that his daughter’s condition would likely improve with a stem cell transplant—his fear of a terminal diagnosis could be assuaged.
—Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
If not treated early, the infection can progress to more serious symptoms, such as joint swelling and arthritis, nerve pain, tingling or numbness, facial muscle weakness, heart inflammation and difficulties with memory or concentration.
—Emily Bache, The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2026
Keeping one breast leaves a small chance that the cancer will return, but Simpson said the possibility was worth it to her to avoid numbness across much of her chest from having the nerves removed along with the mammary tissue.
—Meg Wingerter, Denver Post, 11 Mar. 2026
Both her grief and numbness are palpably captured by De Pue’s camera.
—Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026
Pay attention, however, to warning signs such as numbness, tingling, sharp pain, or next-day joint swelling, Wickham added.
—Danielle Zickl, Health, 26 Feb. 2026
Her sleep was getting worse, and the tingling numbness in her hands returned.
—Sarah Boden, NPR, 26 Feb. 2026
Frostbite symptoms include redness or skin pain, white or grayish-yellow skin areas, skin that feels unusually firm or waxy and numbness, according to the CDC.
—Yi-Jin Yu, ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for numbness
Noun
-
The growing apathy toward big-screen entertainment was also owed to the patina of all-American wholesomeness that studios imposed on their stables of stars, and the nothing-to-see-here style of movie journalism was wearing thin.—
Joshua John Miller,
Vanity Fair,
9 Apr. 2026
-
Constant boredom can cause real distress, apathy, or frustration.—
Amanda Morin,
Parents,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Inner emptiness has always been a fixation of Ye.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
1 Apr. 2026
-
While fans would have surely loved to get any of these songs over the past five years in lieu of the chaos of 2020s-era Ye, there’s still an emptiness at the heart of Bully.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
And if salt and water start to move, so, too, does the phlegm that has been sitting dehydrated in the lungs of CF patients.—
Courtney Crowder,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Smelling of rotting grapes, the phlegm is musty and acetone-tinged, like a decanter of red wine forgotten in a dark kitchen corner after a dinner party, left to turn into vinegar.—
Courtney Crowder,
Des Moines Register,
15 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The song has said everything that Ines can’t bring herself to, and her coldness chips away in the days and weeks that follow.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
20 Mar. 2026
-
Some of it has to do with the coldness of the skin.—
Stephanie Innes,
AZCentral.com,
5 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Her early death, after an illness that the father initially contrives to ignore then notices just in time to capture her desperation in a fine sketch, leaves Mimí utterly disoriented, yearning only to achieve a level of self-control and detachment that will spare him their tumultuous struggle.—
Tim Parks,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
-
There’s an implication early on that Pumpkin harbors her own secrets, but the portrait remains too blank to sell her detachment as a riddle worth solving.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
25 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Numbness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/numbness. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
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