adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A crossbeam or joist.

Adjective

1. 1
   Inactive, sleeping, asleep, suspended. not-comparable

   "Grass goes dormant during the winter, waiting for spring before it grows again."

2. 2
   In a sleeping posture; distinguished from couchant. not-comparable

   "a lion dormant"

3. 3
   Leaning. not-comparable

Adjective

1. 1
   inactive but capable of becoming active wordnet
2. 2
   (of e.g. volcanoes) not erupting and not extinct wordnet
3. 3
   in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation wordnet
4. 4
   lying with head on paws as if sleeping wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

abeyanthibernatingquiescentsleepingabeyantapathetic

Antonyms

All antonyms

activeanimateantonym(s) of “inactiveawake

Example

More examples

"In each of us there lies a dormant superhuman."

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin dormiēns, present participle of dormiō (“I sleep”).

Related phrases

dormant volcanodormant window

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.