
adj.
- Lying asleep or as if asleep; inactive.
- Latent but capable of being activated: "a harrowing experience which . . . lay dormant but still menacing" (Charles Jackson).
- Temporarily quiescent: a dormant volcano. See synonyms at inactive, latent.
- In a condition of biological rest or inactivity characterized by cessation of growth or development and the suspension of many metabolic processes.
[Middle English, from Old French, from present participle of dormir, to sleep, from Latin dormīre.]
dormancy dor'man·cy n.









