recent Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun approximately the last 10,000 years
    Holocene epoch; Recent epoch; Holocene.
  2. adjective satellite new
    • recent graduates
    • a recent addition to the house
    • recent buds on the apple trees
  3. adjective satellite of the immediate past or just previous to the present time
    late.
    • a late development
    • their late quarrel
    • his recent trip to Africa
    • in recent months
    • a recent issue of the journal

WordNet

Re"cent adjective
Etymology
L. recens, -entis: cf. F. récent.
Definitions
  1. Of late origin, existence, or occurrence; lately come; not of remote date, antiquated style, or the like; not already known, familiar, worn out, trite, etc.; fresh; novel; new; modern; as, recent news.
    The ancients were of opinion, that a considerable portion of that country [Egypt] was recent, and formed out of the mud discharged into the neighboring sea by the Nile. Woodward.
  2. (Geol.) Of or pertaining to the present or existing epoch; as, recent shells.

Webster 1913