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salient

sa·lient

US/ˈseɪ.li.ənt/ rare obsolete
adjective (3) noun (1)

adjective

1.

having a quality that thrusts itself into attention

  • “an outstanding fact of our time is that nations poisoned by anti semitism proved less fortunate in regard to their own freedom”
  • “a new theory is the most prominent feature of the book”
  • “salient traits”
  • “a spectacular rise in prices”
  • “a striking thing about Picadilly Circus is the statue of Eros in the center”
  • “a striking resemblance between parent and child”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

(of angles) pointing outward at an angle of less than 180 degrees

Antonyms
3.

noun

1.

(military) the part of the line of battle that projects closest to the enemy

Origin

The heraldic sense “leaping” and the sense “projecting outward” are borrowed from Latin salientem, the accusative form of saliēns (“springing, leaping”) (whence -ent), present participle of saliō (“leap, spring”, verb). The senses “prominent” and “pertinent” are relatively recent, and derive from the phrase salient point, which is a calque of the Latin punctum saliēns, a translation of Aristotle's term for the embryonal heart visible in (opened) eggs, which he thought seemed to move already. Compare also the German calque der springende Punkt.

Phrases

  • salient point
  • salient pole

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.