recent

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of, belonging to, or occurring at a time immediately before the present.
2. adj. Modern; new.
3. adj. Geology Of, belonging to, or denoting the Holocene Epoch. See Table at geologic time.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Of or pertaining to time just before the present; not long past in occurrence or existence; lately happening or being; newly appearing, done, or made: as, recent events; recent importations; recent memories; recent news; a recent speech.
2. Of modern date, absolutely or relatively; not of primitive or remote origin; belonging to or occurring in times not far removed.
3. Still fresh in quality or existence; not old or degenerate; unchanged by time: said of things liable to rapid change, as newly gathered plants or specimens in natural history.
4. In geology, of or pertaining to the epoch regarded as the present from a geological point of view. Strata so called contain few, if any, fossils belonging to extinct species. The alluvial formations in the valleys are generally of recent formation, as well as most of the superficial detrital material. The deposits which belong to the Post-tertiary, or which are more recent than the Tertiary, are with difficulty classified, except for purposes of local geology. In glaciated regions, the traces of the former presence of ice adds variety to the phenomena, and complexity to the classification, of the various forms of detrital material. The existence of very ancient remains and works of man is a further element of interest in the geology of the recent formations.
5. Lately come; not long removed or separated.
6. Synonyms Late, Fresh, etc. See new.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Having happened a short while ago.
2. adj. Up-to-date; not old-fashioned or dated.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Of late origin, existence, or occurrence; lately come; not of remote date, antiquated style, or the like; not already known, familiar, worn out, trite, etc.; fresh; novel; new; modern.
2. adj. (Geol.) Of or pertaining to the present or existing epoch.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. new.
2. adj. of the immediate past or just previous to the present time
3. n. approximately the last 10,000 years