Adjacent Words

Latent definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LA'TENT, a. [L. latens, lateo; Gr; Heb. to cover.]
Hid; concealed; secret; not seen; not visible or apparent. We speak of latent motives; latent reasons; latent springs of action.
Latent heat, is heat in combination, in distinction from sensible heat; the portion of heat which disappears, when a body changes its form from the solid to the fluid, or from the fluid to the aeriform state.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: potentially existing but not presently evident or realized; "a latent fingerprint"; "latent talent"
2: (pathology) not presently active; "latent infection"; "latent diabetes"

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin latent-, latens, from present participle of lat?re to lie hidden; akin to Greek lanthanein to escape notice Date: 15th century present and capable of becoming though not now visible, obvious, active, or symptomatic <a latent infection> • latently adverb Synonyms: latent, dormant, quiescent, potential mean not now showing signs of activity or existence. latent applies to a power or quality that has not yet come forth but may emerge and develop <a latent desire for success>. dormant suggests the inactivity of something (as a feeling or power) as though sleeping <their passion had lain dormant>. quiescent suggests a usually temporary cessation of activity <the disease was quiescent>. potential applies to what does not yet have existence or effect but is likely soon to have <a potential disaster>. II. noun Date: 1923 a fingerprint (as at the scene of a crime) that is scarcely visible but can be developed for study — called also latent fingerprint, latent print

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 concealed, dormant. 2 existing but not developed or manifest. Phrases and idioms: latent heat Physics the heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or vapour, or a liquid into a vapour, without change of temperature. latent image Photog. an image not yet made visible by developing. Derivatives: latency n. latently adv. Etymology: L latere latent- be hidden

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Latent La"tent, a. [L. latens, -entis, p. pr. of latere to lie hid or concealed; cf. Gr. ?, E. lethargy: cf. F. latent.] Not visible or apparent; hidden; springs of action. The evils latent in the most promising contrivances are provided for as they arise. --Burke. Latent buds (bot.), buds which remain undeveloped or dormant for a long time, but may at length grow. Latent heat (Physics), that quantity of heat which disappears or becomes concealed in a body while producing some change in it other than rise of temperature, as fusion, evaporation, or expansion, the quantity being constant for each particular body and for each species of change. Latent period. (a) (Med.) The regular time in which a disease is supposed to be existing without manifesting itself. (b) (Physiol.) One of the phases in a simple muscular contraction, in which invisible preparatory changes are taking place in the nerve and muscle. (c) (Biol.) One of those periods or resting stages in the development of the ovum, in which development is arrested prior to renewed activity.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Latent is used to describe something which is hidden and not obvious at the moment, but which may develop further in the future. Advertisements attempt to project a latent meaning behind an overt message. ? overt ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Concealed, hidden, secret, occult, veiled, unseen, abeyant.

Moby Thesaurus

abeyant, abstruse, apathetic, arcane, beclouded, behind the curtain, behind the scenes, between the lines, blind, buried, cabalistic, camouflaged, cataleptic, catatonic, censored, classified, close, closed, clouded, concealed, covered, covert, cryptic, dark, dead, delitescent, disguised, dopey, dormant, dull, eclipsed, enigmatic, esoteric, flat, foul, groggy, heavy, hermetic, hibernating, hid, hidden, hush-hush, idle, immature, imperceptible, in a cloud, in a fog, in abeyance, in eclipse, in purdah, in suspense, in the wings, inactive, incommunicado, indiscernible, inert, insensible, invisible, languid, languorous, leaden, lifeless, logy, lurking, muffled, mysterious, mystic, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, occult, out of sight, passive, phlegmatic, possible, potential, quiescent, recondite, restricted, secluded, secluse, secret, sedentary, sequestered, sightless, slack, sleeping, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering, smothered, stagnant, standing, static, stifled, submerged, suppressed, suspended, tame, top secret, torpid, ulterior, unapparent, unaroused, unbeheld, unbeholdable, unbreatheable, under an eclipse, under cover, under house arrest, under security, under the surface, under wraps, underground, underlying, undiscernible, undisclosable, undisclosed, undivulgable, undivulged, unknown, unmanifested, unmatured, unnoticed, unobserved, unperceivable, unperceived, unrealized, unrevealable, unrevealed, unripe, unseeable, unseen, unspoken, untellable, untold, unutterable, unuttered, unviewed, unwhisperable, unwitnessed, veiled, viewless, virtual, wrapped in clouds