26 May 2014

salient

[sey-lee-uhnt, seyl-yuhnt]

adjective

1. prominent or conspicuous: salient traits.
2. projecting or pointing outward: a salient angle.
3. leaping or jumping: a salient animal.
4. Heraldry. (of a beast) represented as leaping: a lion salient.

noun
5. a salient angle or part, as the central outward-projecting angle of a bastion or an outward projection in a battle line.
6. Physical Geography . a landform that extends out beyond its surroundings, as a spur projecting from the side of a mountain. Compare reentrant ( def 4 ) .

Origin:
1555–65; < Latin salient- (stem of saliēns, present participle of salīre to spring, jump), equivalent to sali- verb stem + -ent- -ent

Related forms
sa·li·ent·ly, adverb
un·sa·li·ent, adjective
un·sa·li·ent·ly, adverb

Synonyms
1. important; striking, remarkable.

Antonyms
1. inconspicuous, unimportant.

Anagram

entails

Today’s aphorism

Those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old age, but they die young.

– Dorothy Canfield Fisher

On this day

26 May – National Sorry Day. Since 1998, National Sorry Day occurs on 26 May every year to commemorate the maltreatment of Australia’s indigenous population.

26 May 1890 – Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is released in England.

26 May 2012 – death of Festus, our beloved and most awesome budgie.