as in dormant
not being in a state of use, activity, or employment
he has a latent talent for acting that he hasn't had a chance to express yet
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of latent
Other evidence — including the shoeprint casings, bedroom sheets and all latent fingerprints — were no longer available, either lost or destroyed, MacLean’s former attorneys wrote in one court motion.
—
Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 18 May 2025
Patients either have active infections or latent ones that don’t show symptoms.
—Cameron MacDonald, Mercury News, 7 May 2025
Stassi doesn’t like this refusal and sees it as evidence that Beau puts his sister before her and that there may be latent incestuous feelings between the siblings.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025
The number of latent cases of tuberculosis in Wyandotte County was 93.
—Sofi Zeman, Kansas City Star, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for latent
Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 18 May 2025
Patients either have active infections or latent ones that don’t show symptoms.
—Cameron MacDonald, Mercury News, 7 May 2025
Stassi doesn’t like this refusal and sees it as evidence that Beau puts his sister before her and that there may be latent incestuous feelings between the siblings.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025
The number of latent cases of tuberculosis in Wyandotte County was 93.
—Sofi Zeman, Kansas City Star, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for latent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for latent
Adjective
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As a measure of how dormant the rivalry is, the two teams have not faced each other since 2008 — a year before Thomas Muller, who will leave Bayern this summer as their record appearance-maker with 751 (so far), had even made his competitive debut.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
7 June 2025
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Before Thursday, the court case had become somewhat dormant since the judge had made initial rulings against Trump’s actions around Harvard student visas.—
Andy Rose,
CNN Money,
5 June 2025
Adjective
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Some takeaways from a successful series win ahead of an off day Thursday: Mayer heating up Mayer hasn’t even been in the majors for a month, but the 22-year-old has already hit three homers and is finding his groove.—
Jen McCaffrey,
New York Times,
12 June 2025
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Yet Shildt had a relatively rested back end of his bullpen and an off day coming up.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
12 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Latent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/latent. Accessed 19 Jun. 2025.
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