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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Being quiet, still, or at rest; inactive. See Synonyms at latent.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Resting; being in a state of repose; still; not moving: as, a quiescent body or fluid.
  2. In philology, silent; not sounded; having no sound: as, a quiescent letter.
  3. In biology, physiologically inactive or motionless; resting, as an insect in the chrysalis state, or an encysted amœba.
  4. n. In philology, a silent letter.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Inactive, at rest, quiet.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Being in a state of repose; at rest; still; not moving.
  2. adj. Not ruffed with passion; unagitated; not in action; not excited; quiet; dormant; resting.
  3. adj. Not sounded; silent.”
  4. n. A silent letter.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. (pathology) causing no symptoms
  2. adj. not active or activated
  3. adj. being quiet or still or inactive
  4. adj. marked by a state of tranquil repose

Etymologies

  1. Latin quiēscēns, quiēscent-, present participle of quiēscere, to rest, from quiēs, quiet; see quiet.

Examples

  • “So – how long will the people of Azerbaijan remain quiescent?”

    Global Voices in English » Azerbaijan: Detained video bloggers go on trial

  • “So - how long will the people of Azerbaijan remain quiescent?”

    Global Voices in English » Azerbaijan: Reaction to Hajizade-Milli trial

  • “It can be challenging for therapy to kill nondividing cells sometimes referred to as quiescent cells.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Salmonella Is Tested

  • “In summary, our findings suggest that the Cdk4-p16Ink4a pathway regulates the long-term quiescent state of β-cells within islets and of potential progenitors within the pancreatic ductal epithelium (”

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles

  • “In both sexes, organs up to this time quiescent, that is, as to any functional action, take on rapidly an independent life, assert their own character, and take up their peculiar work.”

    The Education of American Girls

  • “The unpointed consonant-text can be made essentially clearer by writing "plene", i.e., by using the so-called quiescent letters (matres lectionis).”

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 14: Simony-Tournon

  • “Twice she attempted to rise and interrupt him, but Sir Roger Kirkpatrick having fixed his eyes on her with a menacing determination to prevent her, she found herself obliged to remain quiescent.”

    The Scottish Chiefs

  • “She lay absolutely crushed, in a kind of quiescent hysterics, tortured.”

    The Plumed Serpent

  • “No one was surprised to see the Mother Superior in the cloister so early, for she was often the first to rise and almost always the last to go to rest; the novices said that the little white volcano never slept at all, but was only 'quiescent' during a part of the night.”

    The White Sister

  • “Like most other adult stem cells, blood stem cells maintain a resting, or "quiescent," state when they are not differentiating or self-renewing.”

    innovations-report

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘quiescent’.

Comments

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  • kingparton The body grew quiescent, receptive—a chrysalis, not dead, but reviving, curling into a further acceptance of the same process, the same physical position.

    Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, Sister Age Nov 23, 2011

  • Marnwave This is such a romantic word. I think sometimes people use it too much :( Oct 9, 2011

‘quiescent’ has been looked up 2877 times, loved by 18 people, added to 119 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 20.