salient

Etymology

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.

adj

1. Worthy of note; pertinent or relevant.
   The article is not exhaustive, but it covers the salient points pretty well.
2. Prominent; conspicuous.
   Warning me that many of the street signs were down, the youth drew for my benefit a rough but ample and painstaking sketch map of the town's salient features. 1936, H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth
   He [Grenville] had neither salient traits, nor general comprehensiveness of mind. 1834, George Bancroft, History of the United States of America, from the discovery of the American continent
   Professionally published dictionaries do not seem to have extended coverage beyond the most frequent and salient items. 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 2
3. (heraldry, usually of a quadruped) Depicted in a leaping posture.
   a lion salient
4. (often military) Projecting outwards, pointing outwards.
   a salient angle
5. (obsolete) Moving by leaps or springs; jumping.
6. (obsolete) Shooting or springing out; projecting.
7. (geometry) Denoting any angle less than two right angles.

noun

1. (military) An outwardly projecting part of a fortification, trench system, or line of defense.
2. 1919, “General Pershing's Story”, in Americans Defending Democracy: Our Soldiers' Own Stories, World's War Stories, Inc., page 9:
3. 1978, Jan Morris, chapter 9, in Farewell the Trumpets, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, page 193:
4. (geography) An elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.