as in numbness
a lack of emotion or emotional expressiveness
a man of remarkable phlegm, never showing enthusiasm nor displeasure
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of phlegm
Those sacs of air fill with fluid or pus, causing a cough with phlegm or pus, fever, chills and trouble breathing, according to the clinic.
—
Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 16 Oct. 2025
With just enough codeine to wash the phlegm away, Veeze folds slapstick one-liners into audacious flexes like origami.
—Pitchfork, 30 Sep. 2025
The second is having either 10 or more pack years of smoking, or symptoms of cough, phlegm and trouble breathing.
—Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2025
Diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease is made via chest X-ray, urine test and lab analysis of a phlegm sample.
—Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for phlegm
Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 16 Oct. 2025
With just enough codeine to wash the phlegm away, Veeze folds slapstick one-liners into audacious flexes like origami.
—Pitchfork, 30 Sep. 2025
The second is having either 10 or more pack years of smoking, or symptoms of cough, phlegm and trouble breathing.
—Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2025
Diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease is made via chest X-ray, urine test and lab analysis of a phlegm sample.
—Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for phlegm
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phlegm
Noun
-
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
Noun
-
Over time, this creates a sense of emptiness, a lack of purpose and significance.—
Arthur C. Brooks
March 22,
CBS News,
22 Mar. 2026
-
The tens of thousands of conference attendees who surged into downtown San Jose this week provided a stark contrast to the typical daytime emptiness, and highlighted the otherwise sluggish recovery of the city’s economically vital conference and convention business.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
21 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
-
The lack of a clear frontrunner reflects broader candidate disengagement and voter apathy rather than healthy political competition, with only four of eight Democratic candidates even appearing at a major housing panel just weeks before the primary.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Mar. 2026
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The impossibility of keeping up breeds apathy and stymies opposition.—
Steve Chapman,
Chicago Tribune,
4 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Phlegm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phlegm. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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