Pick stupor mundi when you want a grand, lofty, attention-grabbing label for some person who seems to dazzle the whole world.

Refer to someone as a stupor mundi, or the stupor mundi, in the same way you'd refer to them as a marvel, a prodigy, or a sensation: "Mozart, a stupor mundi of music;" "She struts around like she's the stupor mundi."

I'll suggest keeping stupor mundi in italics, since it's a rare term and likely to seem foreign to many readers (even though you'll find it in English dictionaries). Some writers use quotation marks instead of italics; some writers do nothing special and treat it like any other term we've brought into English. Some writers throw in a capital letter here and there. Stupor Mundi. Stupor mundi. It's wild out there.

As you check out the examples below, notice how the writers gloss the term: define it, so that readers can absorb it without confusion. You might want to do the same.

"To his contemporaries [Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor] was the 'stupor mundi,' the marvel of the world, and to the later Middle Ages he was a legendary figure."   
  — Emil Lengyel, New York Times, 10 July 1932

"Alfonso X has been termed the Learned and the Stupor mundi ('the wonder of the world'), not only because of the impressive number of works credited to him that he has left us, but also and primarily because of the passion for learning that accompanied him his entire life."
   — H. Salvador Martínez, Alfonso X, the Learned: A Biography, 2010

has this page helped you understand "stupor mundi"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "stupor mundi" without saying "world wonder" or "superstar."

try it out:

William F. Buckley Jr. has complained about public money wasted on terrible art:

"I swear, the critics are going to end up convincing the trendy of this world that a crucifix immersed in human urine is an expression of spiritual joy, an insight of artistic penetration, the new stupor mundi of the artistic soul."

Burn!

With this in mind as an example, talk about some awful, unoriginal, or cringeworthy thing or person that some people these days seem to treat as the stupor mundi.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Literally That."

I’ll give you a gif and several synonyms that describe it, and you figure out which of these synonyms is most literally illustrated in the gif. You can check out some examples here.

Try this one today:

(Source)

A. suspense
B. apprehension
C. Torschlusspanik

To see the answer, scroll all the way down. 

review this term:

1. The near opposite of a STUPOR MUNDI is

A. an AVERAGE JOE.
B. a SMART COOKIE.
C. a ME-FIRST MILLIE.

2. According to its publisher, the board game Stupor Mundi takes place during the reign of "Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany and Italy," who "was a man of _____."

A. short stature and quick temper
B. extraordinary culture, energy, and ability
C. few words with a reputation for ruthless backstabbing

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. B From the game: I was thinking of "Torschlusspanik," literally the panic you feel when the doors are closing.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.