Word.ws English Dictionary

latent variable

latent variable noun: a variable that is not directly measured but is inferred by means of a mathematical model from one or more directly observed variables.

Noun

latent variable (plural latent variables)

  1. A variable that is not directly measured but is inferred by means of a mathematical model from one or more directly observed variables.
    • Each of these is a latent variable, which is measured by one or more observable variables.1995, J. Tague-Sutcliffe, L. Vaughan, C. Sylvain, “Using LISREL to Measure the Impact of Information on Development: London Site Pilot Study”, in Paul McConnell, editor, Making a Difference...
    • The earliest use of latent variable ideas in time series appears to have been due to Wiggins (1973) but, as so often happens, it was not followed up. […] The basis for this remark can be explained by reference to a simple example which, at first sight, appears to have little to do with latent...2002, Cavid J. Bartholomew, 1: Old and New Approaches to Latent Variable Modelling, George A. Marcoulides, Irini Moustaki (editors), Latent Variable and Latent Structure Models, 2012, page 1
    Synonyms:
    hidden variable, hypothetical construct, hypothetical variable

Synonyms of latent variable

Forms of latent variable

plurallatent variables

Origin of latent variable

The variables are latent (“hidden”) because they are not directly observed, but instead inferred from other variables.

Questions about latent variable

What does latent variable mean?
Latent variable means a variable that is not directly measured but is inferred by means of a mathematical model from one or more directly observed variables.
What part of speech is latent variable?
Latent variable is a noun.
What is the plural of latent variable?
The plural of latent variable is latent variables.

Words near latent variable in the dictionary

  1. latent spaces
  2. latent time
  3. latent times
  4. latent value
  5. latent values
  6. latent variable
  7. latent variables
  8. latent vector
  9. latent vectors
  10. latently
  11. latentness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: latent variable (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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