Latent

Definition of Latent

La´tent   Pronunciation: lā´tent
a.1.Not visible or apparent; hidden; concealed; secret; dormant; as, latent springs of action.
The evils latent in the most promising contrivances are provided for as they arise.
- Burke.
2.(Med.) Existing but not presenting symptoms; dormant or developing; - of disease, especially infectious diseases; as, the latent phase of an infection.
Latent buds
(Bot.) buds which remain undeveloped or dormant for a long time, but may eventually 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; the amount of heat required to produce a change of phase.
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.

Related Words

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, covered, covert, cryptic, dark, dead, delitescent, disguised, dopey, dull, eclipsed, enigmatic, esoteric, flat, foul, groggy, heavy, hermetic, hibernating, hid, hush-hush, idle, immature, imperceptible, in a cloud, in a fog, in abeyance, in eclipse, in purdah, in suspense, in the wings, incommunicado, indiscernible, inert, insensible, invisible, languid, languorous, leaden, lifeless, logy, lurking, muffled, mysterious, mystic, obfuscated, obscure, occult, out of sight, passive, phlegmatic, possible, quiescent, recondite, restricted, secluded, secluse, 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, unspoken, untellable, untold, unutterable, unuttered, unviewed, unwhisperable, unwitnessed, veiled, viewless, virtual, wrapped in clouds
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Latakia
Latch
latched
Latchet
Latching
Latchkey
latchkey child
Latchstring
Late
Late Latin
latecomer
Lated
lateen
lateen sail
lateen-rig
lateen-rigged
Lately
Latence
Latency
Lateness
-Latent-
Latent buds
Latent heat
Latent period
Latently
Later
Laterad
Lateral
Lateral cleavage
Lateral equation
Lateral line
Lateral pressure
Lateral strength
Lateral system
Laterality
Laterally
Lateran
Latered
Laterifolious
Laterite
Lateritic
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