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
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
How brown phlegm looks can vary from person to person.
—Mark Gurarie, Health, 15 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for phlegm
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
How brown phlegm looks can vary from person to person.
—Mark Gurarie, Health, 15 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for phlegm
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phlegm
Noun
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Emotional numbness is mistaken for professionalism.—
Kelly Ehlers,
Rolling Stone,
10 Feb. 2026
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While both syndromes cause numbness and tingling, only thoracic outlet syndrome causes the hands to become cold due to a lack of circulation.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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In a city willing to displace a community garden or a newsstand to claw back a few extra feet, the Armory’s yawning, epochal emptiness seems like poking through your medicine cabinet and finding an alternate universe behind it.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
10 Feb. 2026
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Not a feeling of exhaustion, but an emptiness.—
Kelly Ehlers,
Rolling Stone,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Ideal snowmaking conditions today require a dewpoint temperature – the combination of coldness and humidity – of around 28 F (-2 C) or less.—
Sunshine Swetnam,
The Conversation,
3 Feb. 2026
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This character often keeps her feelings to herself, not out of coldness but from a fear of becoming a burden to others.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Analysts say the turnout strongly suggests voter apathy, while polling data showed frustrations over crime and the higher cost of living.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
13 Feb. 2026
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Many of the musicians and audience members belonged to a generation that’s often stereotyped as languishing in apathy and isolation—but whose indignation about the suffering in Gaza has far outpaced that of other generations.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Phlegm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phlegm. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
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