How to Use torpor in a Sentence

torpor

noun
  • The news aroused him from his torpor.
  • All torpor blown by missing too much.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2025
  • Though crucial for the fleet fliers’ way of life, deep torpor comes with trade-offs.
    — Carolyn Wilke, Scientific American, 1 May 2022
  • The sense of torpor extends to the roster.
    — Andy McCullough, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Will his cannon shot across the bow of democracy rouse them from their torpor?
    — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Feb. 2026
  • In addition, humans in torpor would need a lot less to keep going.
    — Jackie Appel, Popular Mechanics, 5 May 2023
  • This kind of hibernation, also known as torpor, is more than just a long sleep.
    — Jackie Appel, Popular Mechanics, 5 May 2023
  • The three species studied spent five to 35 percent of the night in shallow torpor.
    — Carolyn Wilke, Scientific American, 1 May 2022
  • Last week’s attacks seem to have awoken French politicians from this torpor.
    — Jonathan Laurence, Foreign Affairs, 16 Jan. 2015
  • Through decades of economic torpor, the country’s chief export was beef.
    — Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2022
  • But the tryptophan/carb combo is only part of the reason for your torpor.
    — Nick Stockton, WIRED, 28 Nov. 2024
  • Often, there is a sense of torpor that makes scenic action seem impossible.
    — Garth Greenwell, The New Yorker, 6 June 2022
  • Back in the present, Noriko tries visiting Suzie in person to shake her from her torpor.
    — Chris Klimek, Vulture, 17 July 2024
  • The butterflies were shipped in a state of torpor or inactivity, thanks to a cold pack in the box.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 3 Nov. 2022
  • Out of nowhere, the free world once again stands for something, and is even showing signs of shaking itself out of its decades-long torpor.
    — Tom McTague, The Atlantic, 9 May 2022
  • Chen agrees that pigs probably are the next rung on the ladder to payoffs in torpor induction.
    — Emily Willingham, Scientific American, 5 June 2023
  • Some only entered torpor only briefly, and these lost up to 15 percent of their body weight overnight.
    — Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Sep. 2020
  • The opening piece was hectic and clangorous; after that, torpor set in.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2017
  • Binging pasta might lead to a stomach ache and terrible torpor the next morning.
    — Big Think, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The infection causes the bats to wake up from their energy-saving torpor.
    — Winifred Frick, The Conversation, 27 Jan. 2020
  • Bears do not truly hibernate, but instead enervate, or enter a state of torpor, in their dens.
    — Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 25 Sep. 2025
  • What remains of the country’s opposition is now in exile — where they have been joined by those who awakened from this torpor.
    — Sarah A. Topol, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2024
  • Next, the researchers compared these to the areas lit up in mice that weren't experiencing torpor.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 June 2020
  • Our glacial springs burble with the torpor and consistency of a melting pint of Phish Food ice cream.
    — Emma Brewer, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2023
  • That doesn’t necessarily augur for a lot of fun, or anything close to the androgenic torpor of his and his band’s youth.
    — A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 14 Apr. 2023
  • Spring is finally slinking into the northeast, and the backyard wildlife here is shaking off the winter torpor.
    — Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 15 July 2010
  • Then there’s Pandora, Nathalie’s indoor cat, a feline with a long-sitting gift for torpor.
    — Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 1 Dec. 2016
  • The drag from the orchestral accompaniment may have had something to do with the reading’s torpor.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 16 Nov. 2019
  • The result pierced the torpor and discontent of the last year and put an end to all those whiny questions about whether fashion really matters any more.
    — New York Times, 10 July 2021
  • His first came in 1993, during the summer, and his latest draws on that season’s sunlit torpor.
    — Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 1 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'torpor.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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