These words refer to a loss of sensation, ability to move, or mental responsiveness. Numb , the most informal of these, is primarily related to loss of sensation that is brought about by any means whatever: hands that were numb with cold; her tongue still numb from the injection of novocaine; a leg numb from his having sat to long in one position. More metaphorically, the word suggests loss of feeling or mental alertness: tragic news that left him numb ; looking at the questionnaire with numb bewilderment. Anaesthetized is the most formal and most specific of these words, referring to loss of sensation, if not of movement or consciousness, as well; it specifically suggests a medical use of drugs to make someone incapable of feeling pain: taking a pulse count of the anaesthetized patient; the anaesthetized side of his mouth. Used metaphorically, it functions much like numb , but with greater intensity: wondering if her dull, anaesthetized manner was the result of a tragic loss or an unhappy love affair.

Deadened may, more informally, indicate an anaesthetized condition: working with a drill on the deadened tooth. In other uses it is more like numb , but may suggest a partial, as well as complete, loss of sensation or movement: hearing that had been deadened slightly by the blast; nerve damage that had permanently deadened both legs. In terms of mental responsiveness, the word suggests an acutely apathetic and depressed state of discouragement or hopelessness: minds deadened by conformity; deadened expectations. Paralysed takes up one aspect of deadened exclusively, referring to a loss of ability to move: learning to walk with a brace on the paralysed leg. Used of emotions or mental states, it suggests the absence of will or the inability to function: paralysed with fear. It can even be used jocosely for total unconsciousness: drinking until he was paralysed .

Insensible , at its most formal and precise, refers exclusively to loss of sensation: a local anaesthetic to render the area insensible to pain. More loosely, it can simply suggest resistance to rigorous sensation: Eskimos amazingly insensible to cold. In another context, it refers to unawareness, rather than to sensation loss: talking on, insensible of her forbidding frown. It may also refer to complete unconsciousness: falling insensible to the floor. It has little application to mental states. This contrasts sharply with stupefied , which is almost exclusively restricted to describing states of shock or incoherence: stupefied with disbelief; giving his alarm clock a stupefied scowl. It contrasts with numb and anaesthetized in this context by stressing surprise or mental befuddlement rather than a draining away of feeling. It contrasts with deadened by stressing confusion of mind rather than dullness. And it contrasts with paralysed by suggesting a partial, though bleared, consciousness rather than a non-functioning one.