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Sunday September 27, 2009

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torpid [TOR-pid]

adjective

1. Having lost motion, or the power of exertion and feeling; numb; benumbed.
2. Dull; slow; sluggish; inactive; apathetic.
3. Dormant; hibernating.

• Most problematic is the torpid, uneven pace and tone of the work, lurching from high melodrama to lowbrow crudity (the toilet-seat drama is played for laughs, twice) and back again.
  Roslyn Sulcas, "Actress and Dancer, Joined in Passion", New York Times, Sep 17, 2009
• If you liked La Vie en Rose, then you'll love, well, energetically acted films about French chanteuses featuring authentic Gallic atmosphere. But there's certainly no guarantee you'll enjoy this torpid, directionless plod through the early life of Coco Chanel.
  Donald Clarke, "Coco before Chanel - Coco avant Chanel", Irish Times, Jul 31, 2009
• Above him eighty feet of torpid, black water hung like a shroud of Death, and still he heard his ragged breathing. And something else. Cully concentrated on that sound, and the rhythmic pulsing of his heart. Somehow he had to retain a hold on his sanity ... or his soul.
  Jack Egan An American author. Cully (1963)

Origin of the Word

Torpid, approximately 1613, derives from Latin torpidus "benumbed," from torpere "be numb or stiff."