anesthetization
- noun
- /əˌnɛsθətaɪˈzeɪʃən/
- US
:
desensibilización
- After years of working in the high-stress environment, she experienced an anesthetization of her emotions, feeling numb to both joy and sorrow.
Examples
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His constant exposure to sad news led to an anesthetization of his empathy, making it difficult for him to connect with others.
-
The repetitive nature of daily tasks caused a gradual anesthetization of her creativity, leaving her feeling uninspired.
-
There is a sudden howl, a scrape, a high-pitched squawk, as if the poor porker, under a kind of anesthetization, has awakened with a squeal of terror.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
3
6.9
A process that makes someone less sensitive to pain or strong feelings by repeated exposure
Antonyms
How Numb
Surface Forms
Morphology
anesthetization = anesthetize (opaque) = anesthet + ization
Although the form is derived from 'anesthetize', the emotional-numbing meaning is a metaphorical extension of a medical term and is not directly predictable from the base.
Etymology
Anesthetization comes from the same parts an- ('without') and esthesia ('feeling') as in anesthetic and sensation. So, when used about feelings, anesthetization means an emotional 'numbing' or loss of sensitivity after seeing or experiencing something many times.