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salient: msg#00005

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: salient

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The Word of the Day for March 6 is:

salient \SAIL-yunt\ adjective
1 : jutting forward beyond a line
*2 : standing out conspicuously : prominent; especially : of
notable significance

Example sentence:
The senator's speech was filled with so much twisted
rhetoric that it was hard to identify its salient points.

Did you know?
"Salient" first popped up in English in the mid-17th
century, and in its earliest English uses meant "moving by leaps
or springs" (such as a salient cheetah) or "spouting forth"
(such as a salient fountain). Those senses aren't too much of a
jump from the word's parent, the Latin verb "salire," which
means "to leap." "Salire" has leaped into many English words;
it's also an ancestor of "somersault" and "sally," as well
as "Salientia," the name for an order of amphibians that
includes frogs, toads, and other notable jumpers.
Today, "salient" is usually used to describe things that are
physically prominent (such as a salient nose) or that stand out
figuratively (such as the salient features of a painting).

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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