Latency vs. Lag

The state of being latent.

(electronics) A delay, a period between the initiation of something and the occurrence.

(medicine) The delay between a stimulus and the response it triggers in an organism.

A stage in Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of the psychosexual development of children where children become asexual until their sexual desires come back at puberty.

The state or quality of being latent.

Example: ‘To simplify the discussion, I shall distinguish three degrees of this latency.’;

The time between a stimulus the appearance of the response; the time between any causal action and the first appearance of the effect. Called also latent period.

The time between exposure to a carcinogen or other disease-causing agent and the appearance of the consequent disease.

(computer science) the time it takes for a specific block of data on a data track to rotate around to the read/write head

the time that elapses between a stimulus and the response to it

the state of being not yet evident or active

late

(obsolete) Last; long-delayed.

Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior.

(countable) A gap, a delay; an interval created by something not keeping up; a latency.

(uncountable) Delay; latency.

One sentenced to transportation for a crime.

a prisoner, a criminal.

(snooker) A method of deciding which player shall start. Both players simultaneously strike a cue ball from the baulk line to hit the top cushion and rebound down the table; the player whose ball finishes closest to the baulk cushion wins.

One who lags; that which comes in last.

The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.

A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (engineering) one of the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a cylindrical object, such as a boiler, or the cylinder of a carding machine or steam engine.

A bird, the greylag.

to fail to keep up (the pace), to fall behind

to cover (for example, pipes) with felt strips or similar material

To transport as a punishment for crime.

(transitive) To cause to lag; to slacken.

Coming tardily after or behind; slow; tardy.

Example: ‘Came too lag to see him buried.’;

Last; long-delayed; - obsolete, except in the phrase lag end.

Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior.

One who lags; that which comes in last.

The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.

Example: ‘The common lag of people.’;

The amount of retardation of anything, as of a valve in a steam engine, in opening or closing.

A stave of a cask, drum, etc.;

See Graylag.

The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which produced it.

One transported for a crime.

To walk or more slowly; to stay or fall behind; to linger or loiter.

To cause to lag; to slacken.

To cover, as the cylinder of a steam engine, with lags. See Lag, n., 4.

To transport for crime.

Example: ‘She lags us if we poach.’;

the act of slowing down or falling behind

the time between one event, process, or period and another

one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket

hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.

lock up or confine, in or as in a jail;

Example: ‘The suspects were imprisoned without trial’; ‘the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life’;

throw or pitch at a mark, as with coins

cover with lagging to prevent heat loss;

Example: ‘lag pipes’;

In online gaming, lag is a noticeable delay (latency) between the action of players (input) and the reaction of the server supporting the game, which has to be sent back to the client. The player's ability to tolerate lag depends on the type of game being played.