noun
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a state of unconsciousness
-
mental dullness; torpor
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
If their CTmax is exceeded, insects succumb to desiccation, muscle spasms and eventual stupor.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 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
At the camp, Ibrahim said, adults and children alike often wander around in a sort of stupor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
It’s a testament to Shannon’s direction that he fully commits to submerging us into Janice’s unimaginable emotional stupor, even when that gutsy approach ultimately proves to be the film’s undoing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 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
I imagine this wasn’t an easy performance to make work: cunning, stupors and stratagems — how do you act all of those?
From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2020
Relentless, inescapable totalitarianism or the mindless, synthetic stupors of technology?
From Time Magazine Archive
Gooden and the St. Louis Cardinals' ace John Tudor stared each other into stupors, but even Tudor picked himself second for the Cy Young.
From Time Magazine Archive
For years, despite spending thousands of dollars looking for a cure and being twitted by his friends about his intermittent stupors, he was unable to do anything about his affliction.
From Time Magazine Archive
All summer Perry undulated between half-awake stupors and sickly, sweat-drenched sleep.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
