suspended animation

The host of life on ice includes bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, even microscopic animals like nematodes, some dead and some alive in suspended animation.

Even where trees don't drop their leaves and the earth doesn't sleep under a blanket of snow, subtle changes may indicate a slowing, a retreat, a sense of suspended animation.

And yes, the Democrats in Washington seem to be in a state of suspended animation.

In its bleakly funny mix of world-building by way of world-decaying, it memorably reclaims the term “suspended animation,” and is resonant enough to win.

The Thracian show floats in a state of suspended animation.