torpor
pronunciation
How to pronounce torpor in British English:
UK [ˈtɔ:pə(r)]
How to pronounce torpor in American English:
US [ˈtɔrpə(r)]
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- Noun:
- a state of motor and mental inactivity with a partial suspension of sensibility
- inactivity resulting from torpidity and lack of vigor or energy
Word Origin
- torpor (n.)
- "lethargy, listlessness," c. 1600, from Latin torpor "numbness, sluggishness," from torpere "be numb, be inactive, be dull," from PIE root *ster- (1) "stiff, rigid, firm, strong" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic trupeti, Lithuanian tirpstu "to become rigid;" Greek stereos "solid;" Old English steorfan "to die;" see stereo-).
Example
- 1. But other reasons explain the torpor .
- 2. Diplomatic torpor usually reigns in the region : last week when the elected president of one member country the maldives was toppled in a coup there was a resounding silence from the neighbours .
- 3. It was only late in the global crisis , when greece admitted to lying about its numbers , that the markets woke up from their torpor into a sudden panic over sovereign risk .
- 4. The failure of governments to make progress on a new climate deal in copenhagen last december had already prompted some debate among activists about whether a more confrontational style of campaigning was needed to stir the world from its torpor .
- 5. If bitter torpor seems like the default human operating mode out there in the workaday world , may it not just be that a lot of people have jobs they don 't like , jobs they can 't like ?