noun
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a state of unconsciousness
-
mental dullness; torpor
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stupor
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin: “astonishment, insensibility,” equivalent to stup(ēre) “to be numb, to be stunned” + -or -or 1
Explanation
You’re not in a stupor if you’re reading this. A person in a stupor is barely conscious, just really out of it. The words stupor and stupid come from the Latin root stupere that means basically “to be stunned.” Extreme heat and humidity, drugs or alcohol, or some kind of medical issue could send you into a stupor. Shocking news can also send you into a stupor, and some people feel like they’re in a stupor in the morning until they’ve had coffee.
Vocabulary lists containing stupor
Grade 11, List 6
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Persepolis
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Out of the Dust
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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.
All this gives the affair a narcoleptic quality, where flashes of radiance are quickly overwhelmed by everything else as we’re put back into our stupor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
How much can a film criticize big tech’s spell over children when the long-running “Toy Story” franchise is similarly designed to lure its audience into a stupor, and for increasingly diminishing returns.
From Salon • Jan. 4, 2026
Ronan, better known as a painter in New York’s contemporary art world, chronicles a collection of still lives who jostle themselves out of an emotional stupor.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025
Since then residents have been in some kind of stupor, dazed, angry and tired.
From BBC • Aug. 7, 2025
Sometimes Patterson did not notice him until he had been in the trailer for several minutes; he would be staring at the cards, sunk in a stupor.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
