salient
Americanadjective
-
prominent or conspicuous.
salient traits.
- Synonyms:
- remarkable, striking, important
- Antonyms:
- unimportant, inconspicuous
-
projecting or pointing outward.
a salient angle.
-
leaping or jumping.
a salient animal.
-
Heraldry. (of a beast) represented as leaping.
a lion salient.
noun
-
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.
adjective
-
prominent, conspicuous, or striking
a salient feature
-
(esp in fortifications) projecting outwards at an angle of less than 180° Compare re-entrant
-
geometry (of an angle) pointing outwards from a polygon and hence less than 180° Compare re-entrant
-
(esp of animals) leaping
noun
-
military a projection of the forward line into enemy-held territory
-
a salient angle
Other Word Forms
- salience noun
- saliently adverb
- unsalient adjective
- unsaliently adverb
Etymology
Origin of salient
First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin salient-, stem of saliēns “jumping,” present participle of salīre “to spring, jump”
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.
Standing in front of him every day and trying to ask him salient questions was often futile.
From Salon
“Households remember salient price increases — eggs, meat, child care, home repairs — far more vividly than aggregate statistics. These memory effects persist for years or even generations.”
From Los Angeles Times
The study, titled "Primate gut microbiota induce evolutionarily salient changes in mouse neurodevelopment," was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
From Science Daily
Economist Hengchen Dai and colleagues show that people are more likely to launch new goals after salient dates—birthdays, Mondays, the start of a semester and, of course, Jan. 1.
And one symbol has emerged as particularly salient - the frog.
From BBC
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.
