benumb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Invention is kept alive, and the mind is not suffered to fall into that drowsy stupidity, which, in a civilized society, seems to benumb the understanding of the people….
From Forbes ● Aug. 26, 2014
The effect of this announcement was to benumb his faculties.
From Great African Travellers From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley by William Henry Giles Kingston
"But, if they should enchant and benumb you, as they did then," quoth Sancho, "what matters it whether we are in the open field or not?"
From Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
They had power to benumb every decent feeling in me.
From Blue Aloes Stories of South Africa by Cynthia Stockley
Few laws have ever been passed better calculated than this to harden the heart and benumb the conscience of every man who assists in its execution.
From Autographs for Freedom, Volume 2 (of 2) (1854) by Julia Griffiths
And a humble suggestion for the icy, northwesterly breeze that so often benumbs New York City.
From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2013
From the arctics and antarctics which they explore, they bring a refrigeration that benumbs artistic sensibilities.
From Time Magazine Archive
What assaults the eye often benumbs the brain, but now all the networks are doing the same.
From Time Magazine Archive
After offering some Soviet advance brass a dinner at his canonry, complete with vintage port, he benumbs them with a conducted tour of his cathedral.
From Time Magazine Archive
Pure water must be placed near them in such a manner as to enable them to drink without getting into the water, which, by wetting their feathers, benumbs and injures them.
From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Robert Jennings
Steinem spoke explicitly about pushing the women’s movement beyond its initial concerns—essentially, the benumbed, unfulfilled flourishing of white middle-class housewives like her own mother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Its importance may have been underestimated by a benumbed Supreme Court press, understandably focused on what is likely to be the Court’s decision.
From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2022
As friends and neighbors watch in silent awe, confused, benumbed, the father lowers the launcher and stage-growls the absolutely unnecessary: “It’s a boy.”
From Washington Post ● May 13, 2021
You wonder if the sudden exposure to so much warmth and acceptance has sent her into shock, or if any feeling has even managed to penetrate her benumbed state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2018
As, with benumbed legs, he slowly left the still sleeping town at daybreak, a crouching shadow emerged from the last hut and joined the pilgrim.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
I attended and can assure you that, contrary to the glamorously edited videos in the show, they were malfunctioning, formless, benumbing ordeals.
From The New Yorker ● May 22, 2017
Tate Modern's current show Exposed, on surveillance photography, feels intellectually threadbare and aesthetically benumbing.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 9, 2010
If the story line was somewhat benumbing, the dancing was dashing and vigorous.
From Time Magazine Archive
Only the thrill is cheap, and the regret benumbing, the massive judgmental power of the people reduced to a wheeze and a yawn.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Clinic had prepared me for it, benumbing my sense of shame, and besides, I was desperate for money.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
