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''torpor'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250718235318-00-⌔

torpor - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

torpor (countable and uncountable, plural torpors)

  • A state of being inactive or stuporous.
  • A state of apathy or lethargy.
    • ✤ Synonyms: lethargy, sluggishness, languor, torpidity
    • ✤ She knew that she was the cause of her husband’s utter ruin; and she strung herself to bear the consequences. The reproaches which agony extorted; or worse, cureless, uncomplaining depression, when his mind was sunk in a torpor, not the less painful because it was silent and moveless.1
  • (biology) A state similar to hibernation characterised by energy-conserving, very deep sleep.
    • ✤ Coordinate terms: hibernation, aestivation, cold sleep, hypersleep, suspended animation

Etymology

From Latin torpor (“numbness”), from torpeō (“to be numb”).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈtɔːpə(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈtɔɹpɚ/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)pə(ɹ)

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC: ↩

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