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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The final picture is a solo shot of Ocean Rain, sleepy and sweetly tucked into a coral blanket embroidered with her name.—
Clea Haran,
Parents,
23 June 2025
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By the end of that summer, the sleepy months had become prime box-office real estate.—
Mark Hughes,
Forbes.com,
21 June 2025
Adjective
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Human error is more likely when IT professionals are overwhelmed by alerts and false positives, causing teams to become numb to the noise.—
Travis Runty,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
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Goldberg asked, questioning if Americans had grown numb to Trump’s use of pardons.—
Heather Hunter,
The Washington Examiner,
28 May 2025
Adjective
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And what often emerges instead is a dull kind of numbness, chronic irritability or total withdrawal.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
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Commercial or bulk matcha is often a dull yellowish or brown color, coarse in texture, and noticeably bitter.—
Devorah Lev-Tov,
Vogue,
20 June 2025
Adjective
-
Consumer spending rose just 0.5% in the first three months of this year and has been sluggish in the first two months of the second quarter.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
27 June 2025
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While the number of homes on the market have increased, sales are still sluggish.—
Phillip Molnar,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
24 June 2025
Adjective
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One night, Amy, then 8, was asleep in her mom’s bed.—
Jayme Fraser,
USA Today,
16 June 2025
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This is my second time doing it that way, being asleep and jumping out too fast.—
Stephanie Guerilus,
People.com,
15 June 2025
Adjective
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When McCaughan got ahead in the count 0-2, a crowd largely quieted by a lethargic Twins offense got loud enough for the pitcher to notice.—
Dan Hayes,
New York Times,
4 Apr. 2025
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The Nuggets, who looked so energized as a unit in Tuesday night’s Game 5 win, looked lethargic and exhausted in large stretches of Game 6.—
Tony Jones,
New York Times,
2 May 2025
Adjective
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But just because a stock has been quiescent for a while is no reason to disdain it.—
John Dorfman,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
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In the early 2000s, the U.S. invasion of Iraq united Iraqi Kurds in a quest to preserve their autonomy, and the rivalry in greater Kurdistan eclipsed the quiescent Kurdish rivalry within Iraq.—
Behnam Ben Taleblu,
Foreign Affairs,
8 Nov. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Torpid.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/torpid. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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