dormant means inactive, sleeping, asleep, suspended.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dormant ranks #1,386 of 25,264 for Qualifying, #1,429 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,737 of 14,445 for Most Beautiful Words, #3,220 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words.
dormant is pronounced /ˈdɔɹmənt/.
Why “dormant” is a great word
In a state of suspended animation or rest, as if asleep, but with the latent capacity for renewed activity. From Middle English, from Old French dormant (present participle of dormir “to sleep”), from Latin dormiēns, present participle of dormīre (“to sleep”), from Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to sleep”); first recorded in English c. 1350–1400. Unlike “extinct,” which implies a final and irrevocable quietus, or “latent,” which describes a potential yet unrealized, “dormant” speaks of life interrupted, not concluded—a temporary suspension of breath. It is the volcano silent beneath snow, the deciduous tree skeletal in winter, the seed waiting in the sealed jar; a pause written into the contract of being, a reminder that stillness is not an end but a comma in a long, slow sentence.
Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin dormiēns, present participle of dormiō (“to sleep”).
adj
- Inactive, sleeping, asleep, suspended.“Grass goes dormant during the winter, waiting for spring before it grows again.”
- In a sleeping posture; distinguished from couchant.“a lion dormant”
- Leaning.
noun
- A crossbeam or joist.
Words closest in meaning
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