How to Use salient in a Sentence

salient

adjective
  • The more salient question is, why?
    — Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Jacir weaves in more salient archival imagery.
    — Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025
  • But a salient difference lies in the details.
    — Noah White, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025
  • That’s one of the many, many salient details this 84-minute film neglects to share with us.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Bourdain isn’t the only salient contrast.
    — Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 22 Sep. 2025
  • Some salient political and social events are swirling in the background.
    — Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2025
  • But his point is generally salient — the game’s shortest, and tallest, were the least likely to see any changes.
    — Sam Blum, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
  • But Campbell’s bigger point remains salient.
    — Niall Stanage, The Hill, 24 Jan. 2026
  • Below are the three most salient lessons from the depths of the speculative fiction trenches.
    — Literary Hub, 4 Nov. 2025
  • The more salient question is whether a contract will be reached in time to preserve a full season in 2027, which was the case the last time.
    — Evan Drellich, New York Times, 12 May 2026
  • Within all that, though, Drinkwitz also typically conveys some more salient central themes.
    — Kansas City Star, 15 Oct. 2025
  • But perhaps the most salient sections are those that deal with music’s positive effects on all human brains, not just those that are injured or impaired.
    — Juliet Izon, The Atlantic, 4 June 2026
  • The Pistons are gritty, but the salient quality of Cunningham’s game is its smoothness.
    — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
  • Then there's prices, especially salient in recent years as inflation has eaten away at consumer confidence.
    — Francesca Pica, jsonline.com, 23 Mar. 2026
  • But Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd cut to the most salient point of the night as he was asked about Peterson’s absence.
    — Kansas City Star, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Nonetheless, the most salient cause of the shortages has been the dramatic shift in Ukraine’s long-range drone strike capabilities.
    — Tatiana Mitrova, Foreign Affairs, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Big business has never been more politically salient, but the CEOs who sit atop it have rarely mattered less.
    — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 14 May 2026
  • That may be the most salient cultural message of so much political instability.
    — Daniel Alarcón, New Yorker, 4 June 2026
  • Her work often relies on extravagant, salient spectacle.
    — Lilyanna D'amato, ARTnews.com, 28 May 2026
  • Perhaps the most salient thing about the Manhattan Project, however, was that it was not entrusted to the private sector.
    — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 20 May 2026
  • The tone of Tuesday's speech suggests that Trump understands what's politically salient.
    — Averi Harper, ABC News, 25 Feb. 2026
  • In word associations, the two words usually belong to the same semantic category but are set off by a salient contrast (night–day, girl–boy, dog–cat).
    — Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
  • But Nick’s most salient characteristic is his uncanny ability to make choices that might seem out of the box seem like the only possible option.
    — Oren Uziel, IndieWire, 1 June 2026
  • Marji’s rebelliousness, both admirable and terrifying for those who love her, is her salient characteristic.
    — Hillary Chute, The Atlantic, 9 June 2026
  • But race remains a politically and culturally salient issue.
    — Lee Bebout, The Conversation, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Essentially, swearing appears to shift attention and cognitive resources toward the most salient action.
    — Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The trend, which is occurring as the wage gap widens, is particularly salient among Black women, mothers of young children and women leaving for caregiving needs.
    — Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2025
  • That is because the model uses a process of pointing to different elements in a visual image to process complex tasks, such as counting items or identifying the most salient features.
    — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 15 Apr. 2026
  • As data sharing scales and becomes more commercialized, that distinction becomes increasingly salient.
    — Seth Joseph, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
  • The debate is particularly salient for the emerging Gen Z workforce, who managers believe are sorely lacking in the soft skills needed to thrive in the workplace.
    — Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 9 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'salient.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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