Meaning & use
latency
Last updated
The delay between an action or cause and its effect, especially the time it takes for data to travel across a computer network.
See it in a sentence
Gamers often complain about latency when their internet connection is slow.
The virus can remain in a period of latency for years before causing symptoms.
A note on using this word
Latency is common in tech contexts as network delay, but it also appears in medicine, describing the dormant period of a disease before symptoms appear.
Words with a similar meaning
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