Dumb vs Insensible - What's the difference?
dumb | insensible | Related terms |
(label) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
* Hooker
(label) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
* Shakespeare
*
* J. C. Shairp
extremely stupid.
(label) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
* De Foe
To silence.
* 1911 , Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison , p. 272,
To make stupid.
* 2003 , Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice , p. 124,
To represent as stupid.
* 2004 , Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa , p. 107,
To reduce the intellectual demands of.
* 2002 , Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing , p. 126,
Unable to be perceived by the senses.
* Sir Thomas Browne
* Dryden
Incapable or deprived of physical sensation.
* {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
, title=
, chapter=1 Unable to be understood; unintelligible.
Not sensible or reasonable; meaningless.
* Sir M. Hale
Incapable of mental feeling; indifferent.
* Dryden
* Sir H. Wotton
* 1813 , Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice , Modern Library Edition (1995), page 138
Incapable of emotional feeling; callous; apathetic.
As adjectives the difference between dumb and insensible
is that dumb is unable to speak; lacking power of speech while insensible is unable to be perceived by the senses.As a verb dumb
is to silence.dumb
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) dumb, from (etyl) . In ordinary spoken English, a phrase like "He is dumb" is interpreted as "He is stupid" rather than "He lacks the power of speech". The latter example, however, is the original sense of the word. The senses of stupid'', ''unintellectual'', and ''pointless developed under the influence of the (etyl) word dumm.Adjective
(er)- to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
- dumb show
- This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
- to pierce into the dumb past
- You are so dumb ! You don't even know how to make toast!
- This is dumb ! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!
- Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
- Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
Synonyms
* (unable to speak) dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless * (stupid) feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid * banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgarDerived terms
* dumb as a box of rocks * dumben * dumbhood * dummy * dumbnessEtymology 2
From (etyl) dumbien, from (etyl) dumbian (more commonly in compound .Verb
(en verb)- The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
- I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
- Bad-mouthing Neanderthals . . . is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. . . . I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.
- The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.
Derived terms
* dumbness * dumb blonde * dumb down * dumbocracy * dumb-show * dumb terminal * dummy * play dumbinsensible
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Two small and almost insensible pricks were found upon Cleopatra's arm.
- They fall away, / And languish with insensible decay.
citation, passage=“[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible , gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck?; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”}}
- If it make the indictment be insensible or uncertain, it shall be quashed.
- Lost in their loves, insensible of shame.
- Accept an obligation without being a slave to the giver, or insensible to his kindness.
- In spite of her deep-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to the compliment of such a man's affection...