salient
/ˈseɪ.li.ənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.12 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
adj
noun
An outwardly projecting part of a fortification, trench system, or line of defense.
Example Sentences
- "The article is not exhaustive, but it covers the salient points pretty well."
- "With nearer approach these fragmentary sounds became pieced together, and were found to be the salient points of the tune called "Nancy's Fancy.""
- "The last salient point in which the systems of these creatures differed from ours was in what one might have thought a very trivial particular."
- "Warning me that many of the street signs were down, the youth drew for my benefit a rough but ample and painstaking sketch map of the town's salient features."
- "He [Grenville] had neither salient traits, nor general comprehensiveness of mind."
- "Professionally published dictionaries do not seem to have extended coverage beyond the most frequent and salient items."
Etymology
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.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈseɪ.li.ənt/
- British English: /ˈseɪ.li.ənt/