Phrase guide

latent variable

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: mathematics, sciences, statistics

Examples

  • 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, 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 variables.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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