stuporous

American  

[stoo-per-uhs, styoo-] / ˈstu pər əs, ˈstyu- /

adjective

1. in a stupor or daze; having a reduced ability to perceive or respond to sensory stimuli.

   The overdosed patient will be drowsy, stuporous, or actually comatose.

2. characterized by mental inactivity, sluggishness, or indifference; apathetic.

   “Some students are stuporous in class, if they get there at all,” the professor complained.

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Etymology

Origin of stuporous

First recorded in 1710–20; stupor ( def. ) + -ous ( def. )

Explanation

Something that's stuporous is slowed and muddled. When you first wake up in the morning, you may stumble around in a stuporous state. When a person is stuporous, she is confused, sluggish, and foggy. A patient who's had surgery often wakes up feeling stuporous, and going without sleep for several days will leave almost anyone stuporous. If you're stuporous, you're in a stupor, or not quite fully conscious. In Latin, stupor means "insensibility, numbness, or dullness," from stupere, or "be stunned."

Example Sentences

At least it might stir the stuporous crowd.

From New York Times • Jun. 28, 2018

Grazda’s pearly black-and-white finish preserves the raggedy, stuporous air of the time with great dignity and pays its occasional menace the proper respect.

From New York Times • Nov. 28, 2017

The few hundred pages that follow find you stuporous, and the facts slide gelatinously by.

From Slate • Oct. 7, 2016

But something occurs to rouse Tommy from his stuporous routine.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2015

Exhaustion finally dragged him into a stuporous sleep.

From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen