Dormant meaning

dôrmənt
Not awake; asleep.
adjective
13
5
The definition of dormant is someone or something inactive, sleeping or quiet.

An example of dormant is a volcano that isn't currently erupting.

adjective
12
5
Being in a condition of biological rest or inactivity characterized by cessation of growth or development and the suspension of many metabolic processes.

A dormant bud; a dormant bacterium.

adjective
12
5
Present but not active or manifest though capable of becoming so.
adjective
9
7
Temporarily inactive.

A dormant volcano.

adjective
7
5
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Not active but capable of renewed activity. Volcanoes that have erupted within historical times and are expected to erupt again are dormant.
2
1

Grass goes dormant during the winter, waiting for spring before it grows again.

The bank account was dormant; there had been no transactions in months.

This volcano is dormant but not extinct.

adjective
2
1
Lying down in a sleeping position.

A lion dormant.

adjective
2
2
Being in an inactive state during which growth and development cease and metabolism is slowed, usually in response to an adverse environment. In winter, some plants survive as dormant seeds or bulbs, and some animals enter the dormant state of hibernation.
1
2
(heraldry) In a sleeping posture; distinguished from couchant.

A lion dormant.

adjective
1
2
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Sleeping.
adjective
0
2
As if asleep; quiet; still.
adjective
0
2
Inoperative; inactive.
adjective
0
2
Being in a condition of biological rest or inactivity characterized by cessation of growth or development and the suspension of many metabolic processes.

A dormant bud; a dormant bacterium.

adjective
0
2

Origin of dormant

  • Middle English from Old French from present participle of dormir to sleep from Latin dormīre

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin dormiēns, present participle of dormiō (“I sleep”).

    From Wiktionary

Dormant Sentence Examples

  • They are cut to the last dormant bud in winter.

  • In the winter it covers the orifice of this burrow with a layer of silk, and lies dormant underground until the return of spring.

  • The developing seed thus encloses fungal hyphae, which remain dormant within the seed and in spring develop symbiotically with the growth of the wheat plant, doing no apparent injury until the time of fruiting is reached, when the fungus takes complete possession and fills the new seed with a mass of darkcoloured spores.

  • In Owen's Valley is a fine group of extinct or dormant volcanoes.

  • By subjecting a plant to a gradually increasing temperature, and supplying water in proportion, its growth may be accelerated; its season of development may be, as it were, anticipated; it is roused from a dormant to an active state.

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