<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>(in a cell or gland) the act or process of separating, elaborating, and releasing a substance that fulfills some function within the organism or undergoes excretion.</li><li>the product of this act or process.</li></ul><p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>plural: latencies</li><li>the state of being latent.</li><li>latent period.</li><li>(in computers) the period of delay when one component of a hardware system is waiting for an action to be executed by another component.</li><li>(in digital technology) the time required online or in a network for the one-way or round-trip transfer of data between two nodes.</li><li>(in virtual reality and other types of simulation) the discrepancy between the time delay of stimulus and response in the simulation as compared to the real-world equivalent.</li></ul>