comatose
Americanadjective
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affected with or characterized by coma.
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lacking alertness or energy; torpid.
comatose from lack of sleep.
adjective
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in a state of coma
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torpid; lethargic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of comatose
Explanation
Being comatose is being in a coma, unconscious and unable to communicate, often for long periods of time. A bad illness or unexpected accident or injury — especially to the head — can make you comatose and trapped inside a body that isn't working. Comatose comes from the Greek kōma, "deep sleep." When you're in a deep sleep, your body is still and you don't respond to things around you. Being comatose means being in that sleepy, unresponsive state and not being able to get out of it. A much less serious use of this adjective is as a description for getting really tired while doing or watching something, like when you feel comatose after a chemistry lecture — assuming chemistry's not your thing.
Vocabulary lists containing comatose
Game Changer
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Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
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Matilda
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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.
Comatose, Warmbier died in a Cincinnati hospital six days after his return to the U.S.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 1, 2021
Comatose, on a ventilator and feeding tube, LaVonne spent the next few months in Merit Care hospital and Rosewood on Broadway nursing facility in Fargo to give her child life.
From Washington Times • Jun. 7, 2015
Comatose for years, he appeared to have left the land he loved in mind long before he did in body.
From New York Times • Dec. 30, 2014
Comatose and quadriplegic, unable to move and speak, they seem to have lost the very spark of mental life.
From Slate • Mar. 17, 2014
Comatose as my state was, slowly as my brain was working, I recognized vaguely how many features of the mystery, both past and present, these words explained.
From The Firefly of France by Angellotti, Marion Polk
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
