latency

[ leyt-n-see ]
See synonyms for latency on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural la·ten·cies.
  1. the state of being latent.

  1. Computers. the period of delay when one component of a hardware system is waiting for an action to be executed by another component.

  2. Digital Technology. the time required online or in a network for the one-way or round-trip transfer of data between two nodes.

  3. Digital Technology. (in virtual reality and other types of simulation) the discrepancy between the time delay of stimulus and response in the simulation as compared to the real-world equivalent.

Origin of latency

1
First recorded in 1630–40; lat(ent) + -ency

Words Nearby latency

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use latency in a sentence

  • And thus it is that every Idealist, bleak and wintry as his mood may be, is conscious of the latency of spring.

  • Otherwise, in place of remaining in latency, they would assert themselves like men.

    Feminism and Sex-Extinction | Arabella Kenealy
  • While those other mothers, by retaining such in latency, preserved them as a rich inheritance for male heirs.

    Feminism and Sex-Extinction | Arabella Kenealy
  • The repression during the period of latency is an inner obstacle of this kind—or rather one which has become inner.

  • In other words it is the negative quality of passiveness either in recoverable latency or insipient latescence.

    What Is Man? And Other Stories | Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)