incubāˈtion noun

1. The act of sitting on eggs to hatch them
2. Hatching (natural or artificial)
3. Fostering (as of bacteria, etc)
4. Brooding or fomenting (figurative)
5. (also incubation or latent period) the period between infection with disease and the appearance of symptoms (medicine)

inˈcubātive or inˈcubātory adjective

inˈcubātor noun

1. An apparatus for hatching eggs by artificial heat, for rearing prematurely born babies, or for developing bacteria
2. A brooding hen
3. An organization that offers office facilities, advice, and often capital to newly formed businesses

inˈcubous adjective (botany)

(of a liverwort) having the upper leaf-margin overlapping the leaf above

latent /lāˈtənt/

1. Hidden
2. Concealed
3. Not visible or apparent
4. Dormant
5. Undeveloped, but capable of development
6. In Freudian psychoanalysis, applied to that part of a dream's content that is repressed and transformed into the manifest content

lāˈtence or lāˈtency noun

lāˈtently adverb

lātescˈence noun

lātescˈent adjective

Becoming latent

latent heat see under heat

latent image noun (photography)

The invisible image produced by the action of light on the sensitive chemicals on a film, etc, which becomes visible after development

latent period noun

1. The time between stimulus and reaction (psychology)
2. The time between the contracting of a disease and the appearance of symptoms (medicine)