salient

American  

[sey-lee-uhnt, seyl-yuhnt] / ˈseɪ li ənt, ˈseɪl jənt /

adjective

1. prominent or conspicuous.

   salient traits.

   Synonyms:

   remarkable, striking, important

   Antonyms:

   unimportant, inconspicuous

2. projecting or pointing outward.

   a salient angle.

3. leaping or jumping.

   a salient animal.

4. Heraldry. (of a beast) represented as leaping.

   a lion salient.

---

noun

• salients
  plural

1. a salient angle or part, as the central outward-projecting angle of a bastion or an outward projection in a battle line.

2. Physical Geography. a landform that extends out beyond its surroundings, as a spur projecting from the side of a mountain.

salient British  

/ ˈseɪlɪənt /

adjective

1. prominent, conspicuous, or striking

   a salient feature

2. (esp in fortifications) projecting outwards at an angle of less than 180° Compare re-entrant

3. geometry (of an angle) pointing outwards from a polygon and hence less than 180° Compare re-entrant

4. (esp of animals) leaping

---

noun

1. military a projection of the forward line into enemy-held territory

2. a salient angle

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• salience
  noun
• unsalient
  adjective
• saliently
  adverb
• unsaliently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• salients
  plural

Etymology

Origin of salient

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin salient-, stem of saliēns “jumping,” present participle of salīre “to spring, jump”

Explanation

If something stands out in a very obvious way, it can be called salient. It's time to find new friends if the differences between you and your current friends are becoming more and more salient. Salient, from the Latin verb salire, "to leap," was originally used in English to refer to leaping animals such as a frog or deer and may still be used this way. Often, however, it is used in math or geography to mean protruding. A salient angle juts outward rather than inward. Figuratively, it means noticeable or prominent. When giving an argument, make your most salient points at the beginning or the end.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

salient salients

And the issue has become more salient since the Oct.

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026

From a military point of view, the most salient aspect is the failure of Russian power in and around the Black Sea.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

The question is particularly salient to Anthropic and OpenAI given their upcoming initial public offerings: If customers don’t think it’s worth paying high prices for the most sophisticated AI models, why should investors?

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Rarely does the movie hit on any salient points that the series hasn’t already made, opting instead to repeat narrative patterns and jerk a few tears here and there.

From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026

“The salient point about the modern vintage of housing-related fraud is its integral place within our nation’s institutions,” he added.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

One of Chiang's armies had been cut off, and two others that tried to rescue it had exposed salients.

From Time Magazine Archive

Or he might have thought, not without satisfaction, of the banking career whose compact pattern knits these scattered salients.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mostly, the action was confined to border thrusts by both sides to straighten out salients that are difficult to defend.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week, on one of Wall Street's sorest salients, there was Peace.

From Time Magazine Archive

The curvilinear rampart did not present projecting angles, the salients of which, Vitruvius tells us, could not resist the repeated blows of the siege machineryPg 96 of those days.

From The Wonders of Pompeii by Marc Monnier

Related Words

• arresting
• conspicuous
• pertinent
• weighty