recentadj.n.
/ˈriːsnt/, U.S. /ˈris(ə)nt/ A. adj.
1. Done or made in a period of the past comparatively close to the present; that has just happened or taken place.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > recency > [adjective]
neweOE
fresha1398
hot?a1400
novel1405
recent?a1425
lately1581
neoterical1588
neoteric1596
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 50v Wonde is solucioun of continuite, recent [?c1425 Paris fresshe; L. recens], sanguinolent, without putrefaccioun made in softe partiez.
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (S.T.S.) i. Prol. 8 I dout nocht bot the beginnyng of Romanis..sall be of les pleser to þe redaris þan recent historyis, becaus þai will haisty þame self to here þir novellis and recent dedis done in our dais.
1572 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. 1st Ser. II. 131 The persoun being apprehendit in the recent deid salbe deliverit in the handis of the Provest Marschell.
1614 P. Forbes Def. Lawful Calling 65 If, perhappes, the courage of our weake once hath beene..dismayed, with the terrour of this recent alarme.
1661 R. Boyle Some Consider. Style of Script. (1675) 161 Recent translations I have seen of it in French.
1720 N. Rowe Ambitious Step-mother v. i. 78 Com'st thou bespotted with the recent slaughter?
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. v. 51 The discovery of these valuable stones is much more recent than that of gold.
1789 J. White Earl Strongbow II. 167 By adhering inclemently to her recent resolution.
1837 E. Bulwer-Lytton Ernest Maltravers I. i. viii. 81 The bright drops of a recent shower sparkled upon the buds of the lilac.
1865 F. Oakeley Hist. Notes 103 More than one who took a part in the more extreme developments of the work has since been conspicuous on the rationalistic side of more recent controversies.
1908 P. T. Dondlinger Bk. of Wheat ix. 148 Studies in plant pathology of any great practical bearing or importance are..modern and recent.
1952 N. Mandela Struggle is my Life (1978) ii. iii. 37 The recent state budget made provision for the increase of the cost-of-living allowances for Europeans.
1996 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Sept. 15 In a recent Cosmopolitan survey, she was rated one of the most inspirational women in the world.
2.
a. Not yet affected by the passage of time; fresh, esp. as opposed to decomposed or dried. Now rare or disused.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > condition of matter > state of being undecayed > [adjective]
fresheOE
soundc1290
uncorruptc1384
incorrupt1387
faira1400
recent?a1425
inconsumed1530
uncorruptedc1540
good1558
incorruptedc1593
square1628
undecayed1632
uncorroded1685
untarnished1732
unspoiled1733
unfailed1749
unwasted1758
firm1776
unspoilt1796
undegenerate1854
undeteriorated1856
unvitiated1864
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 43v Recipe: yolkez of eggez 3 or 4..butire recent [?c1425 Paris fresche buttre; L. butyri recentis] quarter sem., be al incorporate.
?1553 (c1501) G. Douglas Palice of Honour (London) iii. l. 1291 in Shorter Poems (1967) 84 Ye musis nyne..Len me a recent scharp fresch memory.
1632 P. Massinger & N. Field Fatall Dowry ii. sig. Dv The old mans vertues [are] So recent in him, as the world may sweare, Nought but a faire tree, could such fayre fruit beare.
1759 B. Stillingfleet tr. J. G. Beyerstein Obstacles to Improvem. of Physic in Misc. Tracts Nat. Hist. 178 The recent root of the rose-wort is vastly superior to the dry in head-achs.
1820 R. Hooper Lexicon-medicum (ed. 4) 467/2 The root of this plant..in its recent state is extremely acrid.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 903 The odour [of essential oils] is seldom as pleasant as that of the recent plant.
1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 134/2 If not set when either moist or recent, they [sc. beetles' legs] may be softened by being placed for a night in any small vessel containing a layer of wet sand.
1948 H. J. Parish Bacterial & Virus Dis. 109 This vaccine is prepared from recent or dried strains of Hæmophilus pertussis.
b. Created or begun lately; that has emerged or developed in the near past, newly arisen; †newborn (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > [adjective] > newly come into existence
youngeOE
new-sprungc1485
recent1513
new-risen1555
upstart1565
new-fallena1618
started-up1764
1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid xiii. Prol. 23 The recent dew begynnis doun to scaill To meys the byrnyng quhar the son had schine.
1596 P. Lowe Easie Method to cure Spanish Sicknes vi. sig. B4 Wee must consider that eyther the sicknes is recent, or inueterate.
1641 H. L'Estrange Gods Sabbath 112 Let it be first agreed what Apostolicall Traditions are, under which name many upstart and recent customes intruded themselves into the Church.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 776 We have made it unquestionably Evident, that this Opinion..is no Novel or Recent thing.
c1709 M. Prior 1st Hymn Callimachus 22 She sought a neighbouring spring To wash the recent babe.
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence ii. xxvii Gay plains extend where marshes slept before; O'er recent meads th' exulting streamlets fly.
1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall V. xlix. 147 Lorraine and Arles, two recent and transitory kingdoms.
1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 217 Erasmus..seems to have had the then recent system of Murner in his eye.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 502 We found recent lymph becoming organised.
1914 Jrnl. Exper. Med. 19 419 We found scars with an occasional giant cell of the Aschoff type,—a healed or healing lesion. A more recent stage was also present.
1950 J. A. Mason in J. H. Steward Handbk. S. Amer. Indians VI. 175 Recent opinion assigns the Chocó and most of the other groups of northern Colombia..to the Carib.
1999 R. Deakin Waterlog (2000) xxix. 278 Common frog tadpoles, which he releases as adults on the marsh to compensate for the recent dominance of the vociferous bullfrog around Dungeness.
c. poetic. Lately come or arrived from a place, event, etc. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > arrival > [adjective] > newly arrived
new-comeOE
recent1718
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > reaching a point or place > [adjective] > newly-arrived
new-comeOE
recent1718
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > recency > [adjective] > recently arrived from a place or situation
breathing with?c1550
fresh1565
new1697
recent1718
1718 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad IV. xiv. 382 Shall I not think, that..All Heav'n beholds me recent from thy Arms?
a1794 E. Gibbon Memoirs in Misc. Wks. (1796) I. 118 Recent from Paris, I attended with pleasure at the representation of several tragedies.
1820 J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours (ed. 2) 73 Here Caesar, recent from barbaric wars, Leads Rome in chains.
1864 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta 1260 Recent from the roar of foreign foam.
1908 ‘M. Field’ Wild Honey 124 A lion charmèd on the desert rim; Recent from prey, the blood is on his jaws.
3. Of or belonging to a past period of time comparatively near to the present.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > recency > [adjective] > recent or belonging to a recent period
yesterdayc1400
recentc1540
c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. i. iv. f. 4/2 Of thir Pichtis wrytis mony auld and recent authouris, to quhom applaudis Cornelius Tacitus.
1566 J. Knox Serm. f. 4 v To holde vs in recent memorie of that so great a benefite.
1627 W. Guild Popish Glorying in Antiq. xi. 218 I dare say, that the more recent Divines, in manie places, are more pertinent and pithie [than the Church Fathers].
1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 400 The Sense of some of them occurs there, but express'd in a more recent way.
1731 G. Martin in Philos. Trans. 1729–30 (Royal Soc.) 36 453 Garangeot..who is one of the recentest Writers.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. x. 78 He [sc. Pallas] maintained, that in addition to these primordial mountains, there were others of a more recent origin.
1846 W. S. Landor Emperor of China & Tsing-Ti in Wks. II. 148/1 The older creation of the nobility..is more ill-constructed and ill-favoured than the recenter.
1876 S. Birch Rede Lect. Egypt 12 The Egyptian belongs after all to the more recent race of men.
1907 Nature 5 Dec. 106/2 This, unlike most recent types [of aeroplane], has only a single transverse supporting surface.
1949 H. Wilcox Six Moons in Sulawesi ii. 49 I passed the resting-place of some of Pong' Rantebambam's most recent ancestors.
1997 N.Y. Times 7 Sept. ii. 74/2 Father and son engage in an emotional mano a mano that traces the faultlines of recent Argentine history.
4. Of a point or period of time: not much earlier than the present; not long past.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > recency > [adjective] > of a time or date
latterc1405
late1433
recent1697
1697 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris 98 Favorinus, it seems, alone had the sagacity, by a notice from Chronology, to find it of a more recent date than Socrates's Tryal.
1707 P. Abercrombie tr. J. de Beaugé Hist. Campagnes 1548 & 1549 i. 7 The Italians were chastis'd by Camzoroast, the Babylonians by Nimbroth,..and of recent Date, the Greeks and Oriental Christians by Mahomet Ottoman.
1780 E. Smith Life Review'd i. 24 Some who in recent Years were fully known.
1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India I. iv. ii. 425 The celebrity of the Marattas was reserved for recent times.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xii. 120 Of such a character as to indicate for them a tolerably recent date.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 22 May 2/3 We pressed for the Army until a much more recent period.
1960 Scotsman 9 Apr. 10/1 In the recent past there have been unmistakable signs of strain in certain parts of our economy.
2004 R. Kurson Shadow Divers ix. 194 In recent months..a group of cutting-edge warm-water divers had ditched air in favor of a mixture of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen known as ‘trimix’.
5.
a. Palaeontology and Geology. Extant; not fossil; belonging to or represented in the present geological period or epoch. Now disused.In later use (as in quot. 1938) this sense cannot always be distinguished from sense A. 5b.
ΚΠ
1809 W. Nicholson Brit. Encycl. V. at Oryctology The elephant whose remains have been found in America, the tooth of which differs essentially from all known fossil or recent species.
1825 Edinb. Jrnl. Sci. 3 131 This peculiarity is not to be detected in the recent elk.
1833 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 60 In the Pliocene we find an intermixture of extinct and recent species of quadrupeds.
1877 J. A. Allen Amer. Bisons 457 These remains differ in no appreciable respect..from those of the recent bison of the Plains.
1915 Amer. Naturalist 49 523 In the great majority of the recent crinoids the body is almost perfectly pentamerous.
1938 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 229 106 The genital organs in that case are in the same condition as in recent holothurians.
b. Geology. Usually in form Recent. Designating the geological epoch that continues to the present, now treated as the second of the two epochs of the Quaternary period, following the Pleistocene, and as having begun about 11,500 years ago; belonging to or characteristic of this epoch; = Holocene adj.Holocene is now the preferred term.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > [adjective] > quaternary > Holocene
recent1833
Holocene1897
1833 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. III. v. 52 The tertiary epoch has been divided into three periods in the tables; we shall, however, endeavour to establish four, all distinct from the actual period, or that which has elapsed since the earth has been tenanted by man. To the events of this latter era, which we shall term the recent, we have exclusively confined ourselves in the two preceding volumes. All sedimentary deposits, all volcanic rocks,..every geological monument, whether belonging to the animate or inanimate world, which appertains to this epoch, may be termed recent.
1861 J. R. Greene Man. Animal Kingdom II. 239 Mesozoic, Cainozoic, and Recent Corals, which occur in more than one Geological Period.
1903 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 4) II. 1347 The long succession of Pleistocene ages shaded without abrupt change of any kind into what is termed the Human or Recent Period.
1941 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 8 519 The Recent Acridid genera.
1959 J. D. Clark Prehist. Southern Afr. ii. 49 A..method of correlating the succession of events in Africa with those in Europe during the Pleistocene and early Recent times.
1992 M. Schaffer-Fehre tr. S. Schaal & W. Ziegler Messel iv. 41 The other genus is Ternstroemites and is unknown in the Recent flora.
2004 P. Gibbard & T. van Kolfschoten in F. Gradstein et al. Geol. Time Scale 2004 xxii. 451/2 The term ‘Recent’ as an alternative to Holocene is invalid and should not be used.
B. n.† 1. A new or fresh infection. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 114 As to localez, forsoþ in recentes, i. fresh or newe [?c1425 Paris newe infecciouns, L. recentibus], ar praised fomentacionz with lewke water.
2. Geology. In form Recent. With the. The Recent (Holocene) epoch (see sense A. 5b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > [noun] > quaternary > specific
recent1833
Pleistocene1852
Holocene1914
Gamblian1929
Flandrian1968
1833 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 343 During the newer Pliocene epoch, partly, perhaps, in the Recent.
1908 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 18 555 Glacial periods have existed in many parts of the world, and have extended in geological time from the Cambrian to the Recent.
1976 Sci. Amer. Nov. 146/3 They [sc. lakes] are even more compressed in time; their entire geological history belongs to the Recent.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.?a1425