1. the state of existing but not yet being developed or manifest; dormancy
2. a delay before a transfer of data begins following an instruction for its transfer
Usage: computing; telecommunications
3. the delay between a stimulus and response
Usage: psychology; medicine

Examples

• The virus remained in latency for months before symptoms appeared.
• Network latency can cause delays in online gaming.
• The patient showed increased latency in responding to visual stimuli.
• High latency makes video calls frustrating.
• The disease’s latency period lasted several weeks.
• Reducing latency is crucial for real-time applications.
• The latency of the infection made diagnosis difficult.