Yahoo Canada Web Search

Search results

1. Dictionary

   dormant

   /ˈdɔːm(ə)nt/

   adjective

   • 1. (of an animal) having normal physical functions suspended or slowed down for a period of time; in or as if in a deep sleep: "dormant butterflies"
   • ▪ (of a plant or bud) alive but not actively growing.
   • ▪ (of a volcano) temporarily inactive.
   • ▪ (of a disease) causing no symptoms but not cured and liable to recur: "the disease may remain dormant and undetected until transmitted to other fish"
   • 2. temporarily inactive or inoperative: "that dormant urge to write fiction has re-emerged"
   • 3. (of an animal) depicted lying with its head on its paws.

   Word Origin late Middle English (in the senses ‘fixed in position’ and ‘latent’): from Old French, ‘sleeping’, present participle of dormir, from Latin dormire ‘to sleep’.

   Scrabble Points: 10

   • D

     2

   • O

     1

   • R

     1

   • M

     3

   • A

     1

   • N

     1

   • T

     1

   Powered by Oxford Dictionaries

   More definitions, origin and scrabble points