1
as in sleepy
slow to move or act
a torpid sloth that refused to budge off its tree branch
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in numb
lacking in sensation or feeling
my tongue and throat remained torpid for a time following the endoscopy
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of torpid
This lowers the body temperature so much that a torpid hummingbird maintains a hypothermic threshold that nears death.
—
Janaya Wecker, Good Housekeeping, 10 Aug. 2022
Inside, though, Ingrid is in a state of torpid discontent, unhappy with her circumstances but unsure of how to change them.
—Sarah Chihaya, The New York Review of Books, 25 May 2022
The water was so torpid that a thick layer of dust had settled onto it, giving it a cheerless brown tinge.
—Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2022
The ongoing slog has come to symbolize the dilemma multinationals face when confronting Germany’s notoriously torpid bureaucracy.
—Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 28 Feb. 2022
See All Example Sentences for torpid
Janaya Wecker, Good Housekeeping, 10 Aug. 2022
Inside, though, Ingrid is in a state of torpid discontent, unhappy with her circumstances but unsure of how to change them.
—Sarah Chihaya, The New York Review of Books, 25 May 2022
The water was so torpid that a thick layer of dust had settled onto it, giving it a cheerless brown tinge.
—Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2022
The ongoing slog has come to symbolize the dilemma multinationals face when confronting Germany’s notoriously torpid bureaucracy.
—Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 28 Feb. 2022
See All Example Sentences for torpid
Recent Examples of Synonyms for torpid
Adjective
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Turning off bright bedroom-ceiling lights and flicking on table or floor lamps can help your brain ease into sleepy mode each evening.—
Glamour,
Glamour,
10 Apr. 2025
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Submissions already include some stunning wildlife photography, including a sleepy lion cub on a dirt road, a mountain goat standing in a field of wildflowers, and a rhinoceros strolling in India.—
Popular Science Team,
Popular Science,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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This includes drugs like lidocaine, which is used to numb pain.—
Mary Kekatos,
ABC News,
9 Apr. 2025
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Regarding driving dynamics, the LT is tuned for non-enthusiasts—the steering is numb and lifeless, and the cornering grip is average.—
Michael Harley,
Forbes.com,
8 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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For the rest of us, a real musical comedy is a cause for celebration; most are either too tuneless to be musicals or too dull to be comedies.—
Jesse Green,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
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The additional compounds in matcha dull this effect.—
Helen Carefoot,
Verywell Health,
11 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff—who has emerged as the main contact broker with Moscow officials—met Putin in St. Petersburg on Friday in a bid to move on sluggish negotiations on a ceasefire deal.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Apr. 2025
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There have been too many games this season where Tottenham have looked sluggish up front and struggled to create chances, but that was not the case on Thursday.—
Jay Harris,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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At least two of the victims were asleep at the start of the attack, according to authorities.—
Michael Ruiz,
FOXNews.com,
17 Apr. 2025
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That’s a waste of a lot of daylight when most of us are asleep.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
16 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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But his first few weeks in office have been disappointingly lethargic, in contrast to the focused energy coming from the White House.—
Adrian Wooldridge,
Twin Cities,
6 Apr. 2025
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But the narrative of a lethargic civil service in bad need of work discipline was set in motion.—
Charlie Tyson,
The New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Nee and Dimond’s story was sweet and innocent, its L.G.B.T.Q. allegory quiescent beneath an uncontroversial message of acceptance.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
8 Apr. 2025
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China now has a large, prosperous middle class that is quiescent out of realistic caution but yearns for more freedom.—
Andrew J. Nathan,
Foreign Affairs,
30 May 2019
Cite this Entry
“Torpid.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/torpid. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
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