latent

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“
Second Sight -- latent, at all events.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Present or potential but not evident or active: latent talent.
  2. adjective Pathology In a dormant or hidden stage: a latent infection.
  3. adjective Biology Undeveloped but capable of normal growth under the proper conditions: a latent bud.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • While his musical powers lay a long time latent, his thoughts and energies were from babyhood directed to the theatre. —  Wagner
  • If these are real events, if the aliens are real, if contact is taking place, there has to be real evidence for it--latent finger-prints, fungi, particles, whatever. —  Omni: April 1995
  • I've dropped into what we call the latent state because of brain damage. —  The Many-Coloured Land -- Julian May
  • This opposition was as yet latent, and scattered here and there among many State delegations, but very intense, silently watching its opportunity, and ready to combine upon any of the other candidates. —  Abraham Lincoln, A History, Volume 2
  • Most of them are latent--asleep. —  Alarm Clock
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This word has been looked up 187 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

innate ·  inherent ·  instinctive ·  dormant ·  inward ·  sexual ·  deep-seated ·  psychic ·  racial ·  intense ·  unsuspected ·  inexplicable
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin latēns, latent-, present participle of latēre, to lie hidden.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French latent = Spanish Portuguese Italian latente, from L. laten (t-) s, present participle of latere, lurk, lie hidden, be concealed; cf. Greek λανθάνειν, λαθάῖν, be hidden.
 

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/ˈleɪtənt/
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