dead vs numb what difference
what is difference between dead and numb
English
Etymology
From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz.
Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish, Norwegian død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud.
Pronunciation
- enPR: dĕd, IPA(key): /dɛd/
- Rhymes: -ɛd
- (West Country) IPA(key): /diːd/
Adjective
dead (comparative deader, superlative deadest)
- (usually not comparable) No longer living. (Also used as a noun.)
- 1968, Ray Thomas, “Legend of a Mind”, The Moody Blues, In Search of the Lost Chord.
- Have respect for the dead.
- The villagers are mourning their dead.
- The dead are always with us, in our hearts.
- 1968, Ray Thomas, “Legend of a Mind”, The Moody Blues, In Search of the Lost Chord.
- (usually not comparable) Devoid of life.
- (hyperbolic) Figuratively, not alive; lacking life.
- (of another person) So hated that they are absolutely ignored.
- Doomed; marked for death (literally or as a hyperbole).
- Without emotion.
- Stationary; static.
- Without interest to one of the senses; dull; flat.
- Unproductive.
- (not comparable, of a machine, device, or electrical circuit) Completely inactive; currently without power; without a signal.
- (of a battery) Unable to emit power, being discharged (flat) or faulty.
- (not comparable) Broken or inoperable.
- (not comparable) No longer used or required.
- 1984, Winston Smock, Technical Writing for Beginners, page 148:
- No mark of any kind should ever be made on a dead manuscript.
- 2017, Zhaomo Yang and Brian Johannesmeyer, “Dead Store Elimination (Still) Considered Harmful”:
- In this paper, we survey the set of techniques found in the wild that are intended to prevent data-scrubbing operations from being removed during dead store elimination.
- 1984, Winston Smock, Technical Writing for Beginners, page 148:
- (engineering) Not imparting motion or power by design.
- (not comparable, sports) Not in play.
- (not comparable, golf, of a golf ball) Lying so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke.
- (not comparable, baseball, slang, 1800s) Tagged out.
- (not comparable) Full and complete.
- (not comparable) Exact.
- Experiencing pins and needles (paresthesia).
- After sitting on my hands for a while, my arms became dead.
- Constructed so as not to transmit sound; soundless.
- (obsolete) Bringing death; deadly.
- (law) Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property.
- (rare, especially religion, often with “to”) Indifferent to, no longer subject to or ruled by (sin, guilt, pleasure, etc).
- 1839, William Jenks, The Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible: Acts-Revelation, page 361:
- He was dead to the law. Whatever account others might make of it, yet, for his part, he was dead to it. […] But though he was thus dead to the law, yet he […] was far from thinking himself discharged from his duty to God’ on the contrary, he was dead to the law, that he might live unto God.
- 1849, Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, page 255:
- But he died to the guilt of sin—to the guilt of his people’s sins which he had taken upon him; and they, dying with him, as is above declared, die to sin precisely in the same sense in which he died to it. […] He was not justified from it till his resurrection, but from that moment he was dead to it. When he shall appear the second time, it will be “without sin.”
- 1839, William Jenks, The Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible: Acts-Revelation, page 361:
Usage notes
- In Middle and Early Modern English, the phrase is dead was more common where the present perfect form has died is common today. Example:
- 1611, King James Bible
- I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Gal. 2:21)
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:dead
Antonyms
- alive
- living
Translations
Adverb
dead (not comparable)
- (degree, informal, colloquial) Exactly.
- dead right; dead level; dead flat; dead straight; dead left
- He hit the target dead in the centre.
- (degree, informal, colloquial) Very, absolutely, extremely.
- dead wrong; dead set; dead serious; dead drunk; dead broke; dead earnest; dead certain; dead slow; dead sure; dead simple; dead honest; dead accurate; dead easy; dead scared; dead solid; dead black; dead white; dead empty
- Suddenly and completely.
- He stopped dead.
- (informal) As if dead.
- dead tired; dead quiet; dead asleep; dead pale; dead cold; dead still
- I was tired of reading, and dead sleepy.
Translations
Noun
dead (uncountable)
- (often with “the”) Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.
- The dead of night. The dead of winter.
- (collective, with “the”) Those persons who are dead.
Translations
Noun
dead (plural deads)
- (Britain) (usually in the plural) Sterile mining waste, often present as many large rocks stacked inside the workings.
Verb
dead (third-person singular simple present deads, present participle deading, simple past and past participle deaded)
- (transitive) To prevent by disabling; stop.
- 1826, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Edward Reynolds, Lord Bishop of Norwich, collected by Edward Reynolds, Benedict Riveley, and Alexander Chalmers. pp. 227. London: B. Holdsworth.
- “What a man should do, when finds his natural impotency dead him in spiritual works”
- 1826, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Edward Reynolds, Lord Bishop of Norwich, collected by Edward Reynolds, Benedict Riveley, and Alexander Chalmers. pp. 227. London: B. Holdsworth.
- (transitive) To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour.
- (Britain, transitive, slang) To kill.
Related terms
- deaden
- deadliness
- deadly
- deadness
- death
- undead
Derived terms
References
- dead at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- Dade, Edda, adde, dade
French
Etymology
From English dead.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɛd/
Verb
dead
- (slang, anglicism) to succeed (in doing something well, “killing it”)
Usage notes
The verb is left unconjugated: il dead, il a dead. Usage is limited to the present, as well as an infinitive or a past participle.
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *daud.
Cognate with Old Frisian dād (West Frisian dead), Old Saxon dōd, Dutch dood, Old High German tōt (German tot), Old Norse dauðr (Swedish död), Gothic ???????????????????? (dauþs).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dæ͜ɑːd/
Adjective
dēad
- dead
Declension
Derived terms
- dēadlīċ
- healfdēad
Related terms
- dēaþ
Descendants
- Middle English: ded, deed
- Scots: dede, deed, deid
- English: dead
- Yola: deed
See also
- steorfan
Volapük
Etymology
Borrowed from English dead or death (with the “th” changed to “d”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [deˈad]
Noun
dead (nominative plural deads)
- death, state being dead, state of death
Declension
Derived terms
- ädeadöl
- bludamodeadön
- dadeadön
- deadam
- deadamadel
- deadan
- deadanöp
- deadik
- deadio
- deadöf
- deadöfan
- deadöfik
- deadöl
- deadölan
- deadön
- deid
- deidöl
- deidön
- drakideidan
- drakihideidan
- drakijideidan
- edeadöl
- edeadön
- hideadan
- hideadöfan
- hideadölan
- jideadan
- jideadöfan
- jideadölan
- pedeidöl
English
Etymology
From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”). The final ⟨b⟩ is a later addition to the spelling; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.
Pronunciation
- enPR: nŭm, IPA(key): /nʌm/
- Rhymes: -ʌm
Adjective
numb (comparative number, superlative numbest)
- Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.
- Synonyms: deadened, insensible
- Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.
- numb with shock; numb with boredom
- 1915, Nellie McClung, In Times Like These, Toronto: McLeod & Allen, Chapter 2,[1]
- […] when we know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to human misery.
- 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, 1992, Part One, p. 77,[2]
- […] seeing the dog—somehow that made me feel again. I’d been too dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it.
- 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time, Random House Canada, Part Three,[3]
- […] he submitted […] as a traitor, his mind numb with vodka, submits to a firing squad.
- Synonym: stunned
- (obsolete) Causing numbness.
- c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 1,[4]
- […] he did lap me
- Even in his own garments, and gave himself,
- All thin and naked to the numb cold night.
- c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 1,[4]
Antonyms
- sensible, sensitive
Derived terms
Related terms
- numskull
Translations
Verb
numb (third-person singular simple present numbs, present participle numbing, simple past and past participle numbed)
- (transitive) To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).
- Synonym: benumb
- (transitive) To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
- 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman” in The Grey Woman and Other Tales, London: Smith, Elder & Co.,[5]
- [I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.
- Synonym: dull
- 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman” in The Grey Woman and Other Tales, London: Smith, Elder & Co.,[5]
- (transitive) To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
- 1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate” in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, p. 219,[6]
- […] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]
- 1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden, Part Four, Chapter 6,[7]
- The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.
- 2004, Cory Doctorow, Eastern Standard Tribe, Chapter 13,[8]
- [The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.
- Synonym: dull
- 1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate” in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, p. 219,[6]
- (intransitive) To become numb (especially physically).
- 1918, Lewis R. Freeman, Many Fronts, London: John Murray, “Wonders of the Teleferica,” p. 270,[9]
- […] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]
- 1919, Arthur Murray Chisholm, The Land of Strong Men, New York: H.K. Fly, Chapter 18,[10]
- […] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.
- 1918, Lewis R. Freeman, Many Fronts, London: John Murray, “Wonders of the Teleferica,” p. 270,[9]
Derived terms
- mind-numbing