salient
adj.adj. describes the most important or noticeable part of something. You use this to talk about the main points that stand out from the rest.
adj. most noticeable or important; prominent. Often describes features, points, or characteristics that stand out from their surroundings or context.
The most salient point of his speech was the need for change.
When summarizing the report, please focus only on the salient facts rather than the minor details.
The researcher identified several salient features in the data that contradicted the previous hypothesis, forcing the team to reconsider their entire approach to the problem.
The heraldic sense “leaping” and the sense “projecting outward” are borrowed from Latin salientem, the accusative form of saliēns (“springing, leaping”), present participle of saliō (“leap, spring”, verb). The senses “prominent” and “pertinent” are relatively recent, and derive from the phrase salient point, which is a calque of the Latin punctum saliēns, a translation of Aristotle's term for the embryonal heart visible in (opened) eggs, which he thought seemed to move already. Compare also the German calque der springende Punkt.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Typically used attributively before a noun; often pairs with 'point', 'feature', or 'characteristic'.
Last updated May 8, 2026