latent content
- noun
- /ˈleɪtənt ˈkɒntɛnt/
- Specialized
:
contenido latente
- Analyzing the latent content of a person's fantasies can provide insight into their subconscious thoughts.
Examples
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In psychoanalysis, understanding the latent content of a dream can reveal hidden fears and desires.
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Hence, African American educators, particularly females, may be more sensitive to the latent content of these acting-out behaviors.
Academic text (2004) -
It, it, it is hiding the latent content from you so that you can sleep.
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But behind that is an implicit latent content which I interpret.
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The affectionate words the father whispers to his horse point to the latent content of the screen memory.
Academic text (1995) -
As Steven Jones explains the latent content of this line, while games like Myst and Riven hardly spell the end of books, they do represent the creation of something new in literary space (Jones).
Academic text (1999) -
The disproportionate importance of latent content in pornographic texts and their effects on readers complicate the effort to discern the fixed norms in those texts.
Academic text (2008) -
One of Sigmund Freud's key insights is that the overt and latent content of fantasies (sexual or otherwise) are likely to be very different from each other.
Academic text (2008) -
The 50 transcripts were independently read and coded by the coding team (the first, second, and fourth authors) using latent content analysis and constant comparative analysis techniques, consistent with a grounded theory approach to data analysis.
Academic text (2010) -
Freud argued that the latent content of our dreams is often more significant than the actual events depicted.
Synonyms
38
5.6
A hidden meaning in speech, writing, or art that people do not say directly
17
6.9
A hidden feeling beneath what someone shows or says
12
6.7
A hidden meaning under what someone says or does
8
6.3
A hidden important idea behind a story, picture, or action
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'hidden or unconscious meaning' follows directly from combining 'latent' (hidden/not currently apparent) with 'content' (what is contained or meant), so the overall sense is compositionally predictable. Although the phrase is a technical psychoanalytic term, the adjective+noun combination is transparent and cross-linguistically recognizable, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Latent content gives a simple image: latent means hidden and content is what is inside a dream, so the phrase points to the secret things under the dream's clear story. That's why latent content means 'the hidden or unconscious meaning'.