QUIESCENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does quiescent mean? 

• QUIESCENT (adjective)
  The adjective QUIESCENT has 4 senses:

1. not active or activated

2. marked by a state of tranquil repose

3. being quiet or still or inactive

4. (pathology) causing no symptoms

  Familiarity information: QUIESCENT used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUIESCENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not active or activated

Context example:

the quiescent level of centimeter wave-length solar radiation

Similar:

inactive (not exerting influence or change)

Derivation:

quiescence; quiescency (a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by a state of tranquil repose

Context example:

the quiescent melancholy of the town

Similar:

quiet (characterized by an absence or near absence of agitation or activity)

Derivation:

quiescence; quiescency (quiet and inactive restfulness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Being quiet or still or inactive

Similar:

dormant; inactive ((of e.g. volcanos) not erupting and not extinct)

Derivation:

quiesce (become quiet or quieter)

quiescence; quiescency (a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(pathology) causing no symptoms

Context example:

a quiescent tumor

Similar:

inactive ((pathology) not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly)

Domain category:

pathology (the branch of medical science that studies the causes and nature and effects of diseases)

 Context examples 

Telomerase is active in most tumors cells, but is quiescent in adjacent normal cells.

(FJ5002, NCI Thesaurus)

The hedgehog signaling pathway is normally active during neuronal development in embryos and quiescent in adult cells.

(IPI-609, NCI Thesaurus)

BTG seems to be important for the cell cycle progression as BTG2 is preferentially expressed in quiescent cells.

(BTG Cell Cycle Regulation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

What distinguishes this specific stem cell population is that under normal conditions (when they express URI), these cells are quiescent, that is, they do not proliferate.

(New Way Discovered for Protecting against High-Dose Radiation Damage, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Quiescent as he now sat, there was something about his nostril, his mouth, his brow, which, to my perceptions, indicated elements within either restless, or hard, or eager.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Lady Bertram was perfectly quiescent and contented, and had no objections to make.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The serine/threonine kinase CDK4 is found in a complex with D-type G1 cyclins and is the first kinase to become activated upon mitogenic stimulation, releasing cells from a quiescent stage into the G1/S growth cycling stage; CDK-cyclin complexes have been shown to phosphorylate the retinoblastoma (Rb) transcription factor in early G1, displacing histone deacetylase (HDAC) and blocking transcriptional repression.

(CDK4 Inhibitor P1446A-05, NCI Thesaurus)

You have a very bad disposition, said she, and one to this day I feel it impossible to understand: how for nine years you could be patient and quiescent under any treatment, and in the tenth break out all fire and violence, I can never comprehend.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)