reentrant

or re-en·trant

[ ree-en-truhnt ]

adjective

1. reentering or pointing inward:

   a reentrant angle.

noun

1. a reentering angle or part.
2. a person or thing that reenters or returns:

   Reentrants to the engineering program must take the introductory course again.

3. Physical Geography. a prominent indentation in a coastline. Compare salient ( def 6 ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of reentrant¹

First recorded in 1775–85; re- + entrant

Example Sentences

Contrary to The Post’s claims of indiscriminate enforcement, 92 percent of all aliens arrested by ICE in fiscal 2017 had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, or were an immigration fugitive or an illegal reentrant.

From Washington Post

Abnormalities in cardiac impulse propagation underlie lethal reentrant arrhythmias, including ventricular fibrillation.

From Science Magazine

The immense size of the cave—or overhanging, reentrant cliff, whichever one chooses to call it—dwarfed the houses, so that they looked like toy houses.

From Project Gutenberg

If the line of the nose be reentrant—that is, if the nose is turned up—it denotes that its owner has a weak mind, sometimes coarse, and generally playful, pleasant, or frolicsome.

From Project Gutenberg

The median portion, or that in the reentrant angle of the W, is a four-sided figure in which the triangle predominates with notched edges.

From Project Gutenberg