salient
[sey-lee-uh nt, seyl-yuh nt]
- prominent or conspicuous: salient traits.
- projecting or pointing outward: a salient angle.
- leaping or jumping: a salient animal.
- Heraldry. (of a beast) represented as leaping: a lion salient.
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- a salient angle or part, as the central outward-projecting angle of a bastion or an outward projection in a battle line.
- Physical Geography. a landform that extends out beyond its surroundings, as a spur projecting from the side of a mountain.Compare reentrant(def 4).
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Origin of salient
1555–65; < Latin salient- (stem of saliēns, present participle of salīre to spring, jump), equivalent to sali- verb stem + -ent- -ent
Synonyms
See more synonyms for salient on Thesaurus.com1. important; striking, remarkable.
Antonyms
1. inconspicuous, unimportant.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for salient
Contemporary Examples
He is also known as El H, but of all his nicknames El Elegante is the most salient.
One salient example was Ilyas Kashmiri, one of the highest-ranking al Qaeda commanders.
But in the aggregate, immigration reform is not a salient issue for white evangelicals.
When I sit down someday to write my memoirs and try to characterize this era, I will note three salient political features.
One salient moment in the book comes during a meeting with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
Historical Examples
The point of this salient was at St. Mihiel, the other side of the Meuse.
On the eastern side of the salient there were five distinct attacks.
Here the Germans had a salient which was long and quite narrow.
The French did not plan to make an attack on the salient at its apex.
Plava was in a salient occupying about the middle of the Austrian line.
salient
- prominent, conspicuous, or strikinga salient feature
- (esp in fortifications) projecting outwards at an angle of less than 180°Compare re-entrant (def. 1)
- geometry (of an angle) pointing outwards from a polygon and hence less than 180°Compare re-entrant (def. 2)
- (esp of animals) leaping
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- military a projection of the forward line into enemy-held territory
- a salient angle
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin salīre to leap
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for salient
adj.
1560s, "leaping," a heraldic term, from Latin salientem (nominative saliens), present participle of salire "to leap," from PIE root *sel- (4) "to jump" (cf. Greek hallesthai "to leap," Middle Irish saltraim "I trample," and probably Sanskrit ucchalati "rises quickly").
It was used in Middle English as an adjective meaning "leaping, skipping." The meaning "pointing outward" (preserved in military usage) is from 1680s; that of "prominent, striking" first recorded 1840, from salient point (1670s), which refers to the heart of an embryo, which seems to leap, and translates Latin punctum saliens, going back to Aristotle's writings. Hence, the "starting point" of anything.
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n.
1828, from salient (adj.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper