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latentmore about latent

latent


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  latent 
  adj  1:  potentially  existing  but  not  presently  evident  or  realized; 
  "a  latent  fingerprint";  "latent  talent" 
  2:  not  presently  active;  "latent  infection" 




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