Definition of Dormant

1. Adjective. In a condition of biological rest or suspended animation. "Torpid frogs"

Exact synonyms: Hibernating, Torpid
Category relationships: Biological Science, Biology
Similar to: Asleep
Derivative terms: Dormancy, Dormancy, Torpidity, Torpidness

2. Adjective. (of e.g. volcanos) not erupting and not extinct. "A dormant volcano"
Exact synonyms: Inactive
Attributes: Dormancy, Quiescence, Quiescency
Similar to: Quiescent
Antonyms: Active
Derivative terms: Dormancy, Inactiveness, Inactivity

3. Adjective. Lying with head on paws as if sleeping.
Exact synonyms: Sleeping
Category relationships: Heraldry
Similar to: Unerect

4. Adjective. Inactive but capable of becoming active. "Her feelings of affection are dormant but easily awakened"
Exact synonyms: Abeyant
Similar to: Inactive
Derivative terms: Abeyance, Dormancy

Definition of Dormant

1. a. Sleeping; as, a dormant animal; hence, not in action or exercise; quiescent; at rest; in abeyance; not disclosed, asserted, or insisted on; as, dormant passions; dormant claims or titles.

2. n. A large beam in the roof of a house upon which portions of the other timbers rest or " sleep."

Definition of Dormant

1. Adjective. Inactive, asleep, suspended. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Dormant

1. lying asleep [adj]

Medical Definition of Dormant

1. A large beam in the roof of a house upon which portions of the other timbers rest or " sleep." . Called also dormant tree, dorman tree, dormond, and dormer. See: Dormant. 1. Sleeping; as, a dormant animal; hence, not in action or exercise; quiescent; at rest; in abeyance; not disclosed, asserted, or insisted on; as, dormant passions; dormant claims or titles. "It is by lying dormant a long time, or being . . . Very rarely exercised, that arbitrary power steals upon a people." (Burke) 2. In a sleeping posture; as, a lion dormant; distinguished from couchant. Dormant partner, a dormer window. See Dormer. Table dormant, a stationary table. Origin: F, p. Pr. Of dormir to sleep, from L. Dormire; cf. Gr, Skr. Dra, OSlav. Drmati. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Dormant

dorkiness
dorkinesses
dorking fowl
dorkish
dorks
dorkwad
dorkwads
dorky
dorlach
dorlachs
dorlixizumab
dorm
dorm room
dormancies
dormancy
dormant (current term)
dormant(ip)
dormant account
dormant volcano
dormant volcanoes
dormants
dormative
dormaunt
dormedory
dormer
dormer-window
dormer-windows
dormer window
dormered

Literary usage of Dormant

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Supreme Court Reporter by Robert Desty, United States Supreme Court, West Publishing Company (1908)
"and alternate writ of mandamus had become dormant and were barred by the statute of ... The question made in the case is, Are the judgments dormant by the ..."

2. A Treatise on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, Bank-notes and by John Barnard Byles, Maurice Barnard Byles, Walter John Barnard Byles (1899)
"dormant OH SECRET PARTNER. His liabilities and rights. Joinder in actions. afterwards renewing them several times successively, did not amount to ..."

3. Commentaries on American Law by James Kent, John Melville Gould, Oliver Wendell Holmes (1901)
"Of dormant Partners. — * There is no difficulty, in the ordinary course of business, with the case of an actual partner, \vho appears in his character of an ..."

4. The Law of Contracts by Theophilus Parsons, John Melville Gould (1904)
"OF SECRET AND dormant PARTNERS. A secret partner is one not openly and generally declared to be a partner, (w) and a dormant partner is strictly one who ..."

5. The Law of Partnership, Including Limited Partnerships. by Francis Marion Burdick (1917)
"Nor, in such a case as the preceding, could the dormant partner, ... The dormant partner, having clothed the ostensible partners with authority to pass a ..."

6. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery: During by Great Britain Court of Chancery, Edward Thurlow Thurlow, Alexander Wedderburn Rosslyn, Jonathan Cogswell Perkins (1845)
"dormant partner. Election of a creditor to resort to a dormant partner as ... As to late decisions at law in favor of a plea of dormant partner, quaere, [p. ..."

7. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery: In the by Great Britain Court of Chancery, John Scott Eldon (1818)
"In dormant Part- an Action the Defendant .could not plead in Abatement ner ... be maintained against both by shewing, that one was n. a dormant Partner. ..."

8. The Invasion of the Crimea: Its Origin and an Account of Its Progress Down by Alexander William Kinglake (1875)
"... shows how perniciously the secret of the dormant Commission had fermented, as it were, in his mind. Now, however, the Commission was to be withdrawn. ..."

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