torpid
pronunciation
How to pronounce torpid in British English:
UK [ˈtɔːpɪd]
How to pronounce torpid in American English:
US [ˈtɔːrpɪd]
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- Adjective:
- slow and apathetic
- in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation
Word Origin
- torpid
- torpid: [17] Torpid was acquired from Latin torpidus, a derivative of torpēre ‘be stiff, numb, inactive, etc’. Also from torpēre came torpēdō, which was applied to a type of fish capable of producing an electric shock with which it numbs its prey. English adopted the term as torpedo [16]. The fish is long and thin, and in the 1860s its name was applied to an underwater selfpropelled missile which shares its shape, and its disconcerting effect on enemies (it had earlier, from the late 18th century, been used for a sort of underwater mine).=> torpedo
- torpid (adj.)
- 1610s, "benumbed, without feeling or power," from Latin torpidus "benumbed, stupefied," from torpere "be numb or stiff" (see torpor). Figurative sense of "sluggish, dull, apathetic" is from 1650s. Related: Torpidly; torpidness.
Example
- 1. To pass the summer in a dormant or torpid state .
- 2. The torpid or resting state in which some animals pass the winter .
- 3. Was he alert or torpid ?
- 4. Even when he was awake he was completely torpid .
- 5. My tongue and throat remained torpid for a time following the endoscopy .