salient adj

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" [syn: outstanding, prominent, spectacular, striking]

2 (of angles) pointing outward at an angle of less than 180 degrees [ant: re-entrant]

3 represented as leaping (rampant but leaning forward) [syn: salient(ip)] n : (military) the part of the line of battle that projects closest to the enemy

English

Etymology

Latin salire (to leap)

Pronunciation

• /ˈseɪljənt/, /"seIlj@nt/
• Hyphenation: sa·lient

Adjective

salient

1. prominent, worthy of note; pertinent or relevant

   The article is not exhaustive, but it covers the salient points pretty well.

2. : Of an animal, usually a quadruped, depicted in a leaping posture.

Quotations

• 1878 — Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native Book 2, ch. 5

  With nearer approach these fragmentary sounds became pieced together, and were found to be the salient points of the tune called "Nancy's Fancy."

• 1898 — H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds Book2, ch.2

  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.

• 1936 — H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth

  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.

Antonyms

• sense prominent obscure
• sense prominent trivial

Derived terms

• salient point

Related terms

• salience
• saliency

Translations

• Salients, re-entrants and pockets (military term)
• Salient (magazine)
• Salient pole, a salient (i.e. projecting) electromagnetic pole of a field coil

See also

• Salience

airspace, area, arrant, arresting, bas-relief, bellying, belt, blatant, bold, boldness, bulging, celebrated, chief, confines, conspicuous, continental shelf, corridor, country, department, distinctive, distinguished, distinguishing, district, division, embossment, eminence, eminent, emissile, environs, esteemed, estimable, exceptional, excrescence, excrescency, excrescent, excrescential, extraordinary, extruding, extrusion, flagrant, gibbosity, gibbousness, glaring, ground, hanging out, heartland, high relief, hinterland, important, impressive, in relief, in the foreground, intrusive, jutting, land, low relief, marked, memorable, milieu, moving, neighborhood, noble, notable, noteworthy, noticeable, notorious, obtrusive, obvious, of mark, offshore rights, ostensible, outstanding, part, parts, pertinent, place, precincts, premises, prestigious, primary, principal, prognathous, projecting, projection, prominence, prominent, pronounced, protrudent, protruding, protrusile, protrusion, protrusive, protuberance, protuberancy, protuberant, protuberating, purlieus, quarter, rare, region, relief, remarkable, rememberable, reputable, salience, section, signal, significant, soil, space, special, staring, stark-staring, sticking out, striking, telling, terrain, territory, three-mile limit, tuberosity, tuberousness, twelve-mile limit, unforgettable, unique, vicinage, vicinity, weighty, zone