More Vocabulary from Jane Eyre: Torpid

As I said last week, besides being a wonderful read, Jane Eyre has given me plenty of vocabulary words to learn about!

In the middle of the novel, Jane takes a position as a teacher for a rural school.  Upon first meeting her students, Jane says about them:

Wholly untaught, with faculties quite torpid, they seemed to me hopelessly dull.

Don’t judge Jane for saying this; she learns, with time, how capable her students really are.

Now, let’s learn something too!

 

 

 

torpid \’tȯr-pəd\ adj, from Latin torpidus, torpere to be stiff or numb; having lost motion or power of exertion; sluggish in acting or functioning

Word Nerd Workout

Use torpid in a sentence.  My example:

  • The dose of NyQuil quickly rendered my mind torpid and useless for finishing the edits.
Your turn!  Leave a sentence in the reply section below.  This one’s tough, isn’t it?

Other Word Nerdy Words

winsome, vapid

 

 

 

Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

14 Comments

  1. Ah, the curse of growing up with a British doctor father and the diagnosis of torpid livers. And, come to think of it, my poor children who grew up not being understood sometimes. Chloe, even now 3rd year university comes home and says she had to “dumb down” for her friends. Lol. Oh well, a good vocabulary never hurt anyone. 🙂

    1. Veronica, thanks for stopping by! Yes, my children, big readers and children of a word nerd, also are developing good vocabulary and get some “huh?” from their friends. I used to try not to use big words with them, but I’ve decided that they need to learn. Hmm. A torpid liver. That doesn’t sound good…

  2. As the emergency vehicles had pulled out of the drive, Marcia felt her adrenaline levels plummet leaving her in such a torpid state as to wonder if the task of tea-making would be too demanding.

  3. The new site looks great, Julia!

    Interesting word. I’ve seen it lots but I didn’t really understand what it means because, I think, it’s most often used metaphorically to speak about a state of mind. So, not metaphorically, I did Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred for the first time last night and woke this morning with torpid back muscles.

  4. I’m still loving the new look, Julia 🙂 and Jane? Haven’t thought about her since high school!
    The barrage of election advertisements left me torpid and in need of a vacation.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.