Dormant
['dɔːm(ə)nt] or ['dɔrmənt]
Definition
(adj.) (of e.g. volcanos) not erupting and not extinct ; 'a dormant volcano' .
(adj.) in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation; 'dormant buds'; 'a hibernating bear'; 'torpid frogs' .
(adj.) lying with head on paws as if sleeping .
Inputed by Kelly--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Sleeping; as, a dormant animal; hence, not in action or exercise; quiescent; at rest; in abeyance; not disclosed, asserted, or insisted on; as, dormant passions; dormant claims or titles.
(a.) In a sleeping posture; as, a lion dormant; -- distinguished from couchant.
(a.) A large beam in the roof of a house upon which portions of the other timbers rest or " sleep."
Edited by Alison
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Sleeping, quiescent, at rest.[2]. Latent, unexerted, suspended, inert, inactive.
Editor: Rae
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Sleeping, slumbering, latent, undeveloped, quiescent, inert
ANT:Vigilant, wakeful, active, operative, developed, energetic
Typist: Ted
Definition
adj. sleeping: at rest: not used in abeyance (as a title): in a sleeping posture: (archit.) leaning.—n. a crossbeam: a joist.—n. Dor′mancy quiescence.—ns. Dor′mer-win′dow a vertical window esp. of a sleeping-room (formerly called dormer) on the sloping roof of a house; Dormi′tion sleeping.—adj. Dor′mitive causing sleep (of medicine) as opium.—ns. Dor′mitory a large sleeping-chamber with many beds; Dor′mouse a small rodent intermediate between the squirrel and the mouse so called because torpid in winter:—pl. Dor′mice; Dor′tour (Spens.) a dormitory.
Typist: Pierce
Examples
- The question instantly awakened one of my dormant remembrances in connection with the birthday festival. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- After what has been said in previous chapters, it will not seem so strange that Edison should have hundreds of dormant inventions on his hands. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- We may mean by potentiality a merely dormant or quiescent state--a capacity to become something different under external influences. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Fulton, always an ardent patriot, answered, At all events, whatever may be your reward, I will never consent to let these inventions lie dormant should my Country at any time have need of them. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christmas time awaken! Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- I am full of dormant good qualities, if Rachel would only have helped me to bring them out! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- They alone are capable of giving ideas of relation, and of arousing the dormant energies of thought. Plato. The Republic.
- Bramah's press illustrates how the theories of one age often lie dormant, but if true become the practices of a succeeding age. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- With frogs and amphibious reptiles the dormant state is very common, and if the temperature is kept low by artificial means they may remain dormant for years. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- It roused all my dormant recollections, my suspended sentiments of injury, and gave rise to the new one of revenge. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- For a number of years, however, the invention lay dormant and served no other purpose than that of a scientific curiosity or an amusing toy. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Typist: Pierce