torpor
Americannoun
-
sluggish inactivity or inertia.
-
lethargic indifference; apathy.
- Synonyms:
- lethargy, listlessness, stolidity
-
a state of suspended physical powers and activities.
-
dormancy, as of a hibernating animal.
- Synonyms:
- drowsiness, slumber, sleepiness
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of torpor
1600–10; < Latin: numbness, equivalent to torp ( ēre ) to be stiff or numb + -or -or 1
Explanation
Torpor is a state of mental and physical inactivity. "After a huge Thanksgiving meal, my family members fall into a torpor; no one can even pick up the TV remote." Torpor can be used in everyday speech, but it's also a scientific term for a state of deep sleep that allows animals to conserve energy. Certain species of bats, birds, and frogs rely on torpor for survival during tough times. While humans don't technically belong to this group of animals, they certainly appear to, especially after a large meal and on most Monday mornings.
Vocabulary lists containing torpor
Grade 12, List 2
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"Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle
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Unbroken
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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:
A sluggish U.S. labor market appears to be coming out of its torpor.
From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026
The best is that there’s reason to hope that somewhat higher rates are starting to shake Japan out of its multi-decade torpor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
The Pacers never looked like shaking off their early season torpor on Monday despite facing a Detroit team missing both Cade Cunningham and Tobias Harris.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
On June 14, I applied to renew my passport, bracing for months of frustration with bureaucratic apathy and torpor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2025
A dangerous lassitude hovered just out of range in his body; it was accompanied by a defeatist torpor.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
During one of these afternoon torpors, I came upon a word: acedia.
From The Guardian ● May 29, 2019
He was in one of his reptilian torpors again.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
When he sank into one of his torpors, the quiet woman holding his pulse, he felt he was getting even with the wife and daughter who had made him so unhappy in past days.
From Command by McFee, William
No man sees him sleep, for he makes bread—or worse, brownie—at night, and he rings a bullock bell loudly at half-past five in the morning to rouse us from our animal torpors.
From On the Track by Lawson, Henry
But the fumes and torpors of grief and pain were this morning dispersed.
From Tante by Sedgwick, Anne Douglas
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.
