dormant

Alternative forms

• dormaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɹmənt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔːmənt/

Adjective

dormant (not comparable)

1. Inactive, sleeping, asleep, suspended.

   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.

   • Burke

     It is by lying dormant a long time, or being […] very rarely exercised, that arbitrary power steals upon a people.

2. (heraldry) In a sleeping posture; distinguished from couchant.

   a lion dormant

Further reading

• dormant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• dormant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• dormant at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• mordant

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔʁ.mɑ̃/

Adjective

dormant (feminine singular dormante, masculine plural dormants, feminine plural dormantes)

1. dormant
2. asleep

Verb

dormant

1. present participle of dormir

Further reading

• “dormant” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• mordant

Verb

dormant

1. present participle of dormi