What does "salient" mean?
Salient: Shooting out up; springing; projecting. He had in himself a salient, living spring of generous and manly action. Burke.
Additional senses
- 2.Hence, figuratively, forcing itself on the attention; prominent; conspicuous; noticeable. He [Grenville] had neither salient traits, nor general comprehensiveness of mind. Bancroft.
- 3.(Math. & Fort.) Projectiong outwardly; as, a salient angle; -- opposed to reëntering. See Illust. of Bastion.
- 4.(Her.) Represented in a leaping position; as, a lion salient. Salient angle. See Salient, a., 4. -- Salient polygon (Geom.), a polygon all of whose angles are salient. -- Salient polyhedron (Geom.), a polyhedron all of whose solid angles are salient.
- 5.A salient angle or part; a projection.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00