quiescent

UK/kwaɪˈɛsənt/US/kwaɪˈɛsənt/

adjectiveC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Quiescent means quiet and inactive for the time being. A quiescent volcano.

The phrase for the time being is doing the work, since quiescent implies it could wake. A quiescent disease is not cured, only sleeping, which is a distinction that matters.

Definitions of quiescent

1adjectivequiescentQuiet and inactive for the time being.C2
“The virus stays quiescent in the nerve for decades.”

quiescent is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin quiescens, resting, from quies, quiet, the root of quiet and acquiesce.

Proto-Indo-European
*kʷyeh₁-
Latin
quiēscēns
English, today
quiescent

Learned borrowing from Latin quiēscēns. Latin quiēscēns.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

quiescent in the wild

In astronomy, cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) are stars which irregularly increase in brightness by a large factor, then drop back down to a quiescent state.
Cataclysmic variable star
In undamaged muscle, the majority of satellite cells are quiescent; they neither differentiate nor undergo cell division.
Myosatellite cell
By November 1921 the star had dimmed to 14th magnitude, which is close to its quiescent brightness.
HR Lyrae
The current consumed in this state is commonly called Iddq for Idd (quiescent) and hence the name.
Iddq testing
However, a different input that attempts to set the signal to 0 will show a large increase in quiescent current, signalling a bad part.
Iddq testing

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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