quiescence
Americannoun
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quietness or stillness; inactivity or dormancy.
After a year of apparent quiescence, the region’s cities have once again erupted into street demonstrations.
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Biology, the state of producing no symptoms; remission, as of a disease, tumor, or other disorder.
Periodontal disease may be characterized by episodes of activity followed by periods of relative quiescence.
Etymology
Origin of quiescence
First recorded in 1620–30; from Late Latin quiescentia “rest,” from Latin quiescent-, stem of quiescēns ( see quiescent ( def. )) + -ia ( def. )
Explanation
If there's a particular time of day when your ten kittens settle down to nap, you can call that their period of quiescence, or the time when they are all quiet and restful. The noun quiescence looks similar to the word "quiet" for a good reason: quiescence is a quiet spell or state. It's used often to mean "dormancy," or the quieting of a symptom or a disease, such as the quiescence of a child's asthma symptoms during the winter months. The Latin root word is quies, which means "rest or quiet."
Vocabulary lists containing quiescence
Power Suffix: -escence
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"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, Chapters 10–14
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The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation (Volume 1)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The researchers saw this pattern in both aggressive forms of breast cancer and slower-developing classes - an unexpected result because quiescence had previously been linked more closely with slower-growing disease.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
Some 800 years ago, between the years 1210 and 1240, sporadic fissure eruptions took place across Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula—a period of activity that was followed by a long period of quiescence.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 17, 2024
The old order has survived and the revolutionaries were either driven into exile, fell into apathy or quiescence.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2023
Most experts have converged upon an answer: We are paying back a collective “immunity debt,” one accrued from the quiescence of traditional respiratory viruses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2022
I answered miserably that the disease hath a period of quiescence before it blooms.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
