latent

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adjective

1. Capable of being but not yet in existence: eventual, possible, potential. See possible/impossible.
2. Existing in a temporarily inactive form or state: abeyant, dormant, inactive, quiescent, sleeping. See action/inaction, show/hide.

adj

Definition: dormant, hidden
Antonyms: active, apparent, clear, live, manifest, obvious, open, public

Latent dream thoughts (latent content) are the meanings psychoanalytic interpretation discovers in the manifest dream (the narrative the dreamer constructs of his dream).

Freud introduced the contrast between manifest and latent in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900a), and he never abandoned this distinction, as witness An Outline of Psychoanalysis (1940a [1938]).

Latent thoughts (also called by Freud "dream thoughts" or "latent content") are primary; they are the motor of the dream. They are comprised of infantile memories—of "egoistic," sexual, or incestuous contents—which because of their moral unacceptability are rejected by the censorship. They are marked by the primary processes (condensation, displacement, figurability) and undergo the "distortions" that constitute the "dream work."

Unconscious latent thoughts—the demands of the drives and their prohibition—are the foundation of the dream and exert an attractive power over certain pre-conscious formations. Residues of the day, events of the day before, function as possible jumping-off places for associations allowing the dream to be interpreted.

Over time, accumulated clinical experience and theoretical developments nuanced Freud's initial stark distinction between manifest and latent. In the Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Freud conceded that "one manifest element can replace several latent ones or one latent element can be replaced by several manifest ones" (1916-17a [1915-17], p. 125), arguing that dream interpretation can be based either on pre-conscious content or on the unconscious. After Freud's introduction of the second topography (1920-25), a notion even arose of "thought-transference" (1933a, p. 40) suggesting circulation of latent thought between two persons (and not only within a mental apparatus).

In 1933 and 1938 Freud returned to the notion of the latent content of the dream, emphasizing its unconscious character. In effect it was a "primitive language without any grammar," in which "only the raw material of thought is expressed and abstract terms are taken back to the concrete ones that are at their basis" (1933a, p. 20), where temporal relations are transformed into spatial ones, and "contraries are not kept apart but treated as though they were identical" (1940a [1938], p.169). The latent is fashioned out of a "forgotten childhood," and of an "archaic heritage, which a child brings with him into the world, before any experience of his own, influenced by the experiences of his ancestors" (p. 167). The content of dreams is said to be like that of tales and myths, and "to constitute a source of human prehistory."

Freud reported noticing the latent functioning of psyches in treatments handled by colleagues: Helene Deutsch observed a "thought transference," a phenomenon also recorded by Dorothy Burlingham between a mother and a son who were both undergoing psychotherapy.

In present-day theory, the "latent" may describe an unconscious psychic communication between the analyst and the analysand: the transference is intertwined with the counter-transference, the unconscious of the analyst as important to the outcome as that of the analysand, and the analyst's interpretation may also have a "latent" aspect (Jean-Paul Valabrega). This approach takes as its starting point Freud's remark that there is a "secret language" created "secret language" created "between two people who see a lot of each other" (1933a, p. 49).

Within the treatment, an analyst's dream of the patient in session may represent the latent fantasy functioning of the two psyches, and perhaps the starting point of an essential working through (André Missenard). An analogous function can be served by a "chimera" (Michel de M'Uzan), or by "co-thinking" (Daniel Widlöcher). Outside the treatment, in certain group situations with analyst(s) (small groups, combined therapies, families in psychotherapy) a latent fantasy system is said to underlie a shared psychic functioning.

Manifest and latent were notions introduced by Freud in connection with theories of the dream and of the mental approaches. Like other concepts, they were the product of his self-analysis. Since 1900, the use and the meaning of the idea of the latent has greatly evolved, as witness the specific place and strict meaning accorded to it currently in the theory of psychic functioning during treatment, as well as its broader and more descriptive application in clinical thinking to latent homosexuality, latent depression, latent perversion, and so on.

Bibliography

Anzieu, Didier, et al. (1990). Psychic envelopes (Daphne Briggs, Trans.). London: Karnac Books.

Missenard, André. (1987). L'enveloppe du rêve et le fantasme de psyché commune. In Anzieu, Didier, Houzel, Didier, et al., Les enveloppes psychiques. Paris: Dunod.

M'Uzan, Michel de. (1994). La bouche de L'Inconscient. Paris: Gallimard.

Valabrega, Jean-Paul. (1980). Phantasme, mythe, corps et sens: Une théorie psychanalytique de la connaissance. Paris:Payot.

Widlöcher, Daniel (1970). Les nouvelles cartes de la psychanalyse. Paris: Odile Jacob.

—ANDRÉ MISSENARD

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Hidden; concealed; that which does not appear upon the face of an item.

For example, a latent defect in the title to a parcel of real property is one that is not discoverable by an inspection of the title made with ordinary care. Similarly, a latent defect in an item of merchandise is one that could not have been discovered by any known or customary inspection or test.

IN BRIEF: Present but not yet active or visible.

If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be. — James Russell Miller (1840-1912)

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1. existing in a potential, dormant, or suppressed form but usually capable of being expressed or evoked.
2. (in pathology) (of an infection or disease) not yet manifest or apparent.

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Dormant or concealed; not manifest; potential. See also latent image, infection.

• l. period — a seemingly inactive period, as that between exposure of tissue to an injurious agent and the manifestations of response, or that between the instant of stimulation and the beginning of response. The latent period in virus replication defines the period from adsorption, penetration and uncoating of the virus until the first progeny virus are released from the cell.

adj

Hidden; beneath the surface; not obvious or active.

For a list of words related to latent, see:

• Introverted, Reserved, Isolated, or Mysterious
• Inert, Lazy, Tired, or Insensate
• Homosexuality - latent: (adj) in popular usage, designating one who appears heterosexual while repressing unconscious homosexual tendencies

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See words rhyming with "latent."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Latent.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - latent, skjult, bunden
n. - fingeraftryk der kun kan ses efter fremkaldelse

idioms:

• latent heat    latent varme, bunden varme
• latent period    latenstid

Nederlands (Dutch)
latent, verborgen, slapend

Français (French)
adj. - latent, caché (un vice)
n. - empreinte digitale cachée

idioms:

• latent heat    chaleur latente
• latent period    période de latence

Deutsch (German)
adj. - latent
n. - latenter Fingerabdruck

idioms:

• latent heat    Umwandlungswärme
• latent period    (Med.) Inkubationszeit einer Infektionskrankheit

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - λανθάνων, αφανής, κρυμμένος, κρυφός
n. - δακτυλικό αποτύπωμα αόρατο στο γυμνό μάτι

idioms:

• latent heat    λανθάνουσα θερμότητα
• latent period    λανθάνων χρόνος

Italiano (Italian)
latente

idioms:

• latent heat    calore latente
• latent period    periodo di incubazione

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - latente, oculto
n. - latente (m)

idioms:

• latent heat    calor (m) latente (Fís.)
• latent period    período (m) latente

Русский (Russian)
скрытый, латентный

idioms:

• latent heat    скрытая теплота
• latent period    латентный период

Español (Spanish)
adj. - latente, oculto, disimulado
n. - tipo de huella digital que solo puede ser vista luego de ser procesada

idioms:

• latent heat    calor latente
• latent period    latencia, período latente

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - latent, dold, förborgad, bunden
n., - n.

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
潜伏性的, 隐藏的, 隐约的指印

idioms:

• latent heat    潜热
• latent period    潜伏期, 反应时间

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 潛伏性的, 隱藏的
n. - 隱約的指印

idioms:

• latent heat    潛熱
• latent period    潛伏期, 反應時間

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 잠재성의, 숨어 있는 , 휴지 상태의
n. - 잠복성

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 隠れている, 潜在的な, 潜伏性の
n. - 犯罪現場の指紋

idioms:

• latent heat    潜熱
• latent period    潜伏期間, 潜伏期, 潜期

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) كامن, مستتر (الاسم) نوع من البصمات لا تظهر الا بعد, اجراء الفحوصات‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮חבוי, טמיר, נסתר, שבפוטנציה, שבכוח‬
n. - ‮סוג של טביעת-אצבעות היכול להיראות רק לאחר עיבוד‬

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