Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A state of reduced sensibility or consciousness.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Suspension or great diminution of sensibility; a state in which the faculties are deadenee or dazed; torpidity of feeling.
  • noun Intellectual insensibility; dullness of perception or understanding; mental or moral numbness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Great diminution or suspension of sensibility; suppression of sense or feeling; lethargy.
  • noun Intellectual insensibility; moral stupidity; heedlessness or inattention to one's interests.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A state of reduced consciousness or sensibility.
  • noun A state in which one has difficulty in thinking or using one’s senses.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens accidentally
  • noun marginal consciousness

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin, from stupēre, to be stunned.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowed from Latin stupor ("insensibility, numbness, dullness"), from stupeō, from Proto-Indo-European *stewp-. Distantly related (from Proto-Indo-European, via Proto-Germanic) to stint, stub, and steep.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word stupor.

Examples

  • I was near a dead man myself, that night, mostly in stupor, only dimly aware at times of the extremity of cold and wet that I endured.

    Chapter 19 2010

  • I was near a dead man myself, that night, mostly in stupor, only dimly aware at times of the extremity of cold and wet that I endured.

    Chapter 19 2010

  • Igor, in his drunken stupor is now lying on top on KK.

    Squirrel Fights 2008--Round Deux 2008

  • If you are among the people who missed the big game, the Super Bowl, today I call stupor Monday, must be like that.

    CNN Transcript Feb 5, 2007 2007

  • I was near a dead man myself, that night, mostly in stupor, only dimly aware at times of the extremity of cold and wet that I endured.

    Chapter 19 1915

  • In case of rapid recovery the stupor is short and usually marked with mild delirium.

    Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. George Francis Atkinson 1886

  • No, what apparently wakes Bush up from his stupor is a comedian making fun of him.

    05/02/2006 2006

  • Surely it is a reprobate sense, a spirit of frenzy and of stupor, which is withheld from any daring attempt, only by a fear of the shame of men; while the fear of divine judgment is trodden under foot.

    Commentary on Genesis - Volume 2 1509-1564 1996

  • He is delirious in an artificial, merciful semi-stupor, which is saving him the untold sufferings of morphine denial.

    Our Nervous Friends — Illustrating the Mastery of Nervousness Robert S. Carroll

  • As he opened the door of the main office, his ear was saluted by a low grunting sound, and there in evening dress was Mr. Augustus Alfonso Brockelsby, reclining in a big chair, asleep, if one could with propriety call the stupor in which he was sunk, sleep.

    The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton Wardon Allan Curtis 1903

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.