The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Salient \Sa"li*ent\, a. (Fort.)
   A salient angle or part; a projection.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Salient \Sa"li*ent\, a. [L. saliens, -entis, p. pr. of salire to
   leap; cf. F. saillant. See Sally, n. & v. i..]
   1. Moving by leaps or springs; leaping; bounding; jumping.
      "Frogs and salient animals." --Sir T. Browne.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Shooting out or up; springing; projecting.
      [1913 Webster]

            He had in himself a salient, living spring of
            generous and manly action.            --Burke.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Hence, figuratively, forcing itself on the attention;
      prominent; conspicuous; noticeable.
      [1913 Webster]

            He [Grenville] had neither salient traits, nor
            general comprehensiveness of mind.    --Bancroft.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Math. & Fort.) Projecting outwardly; as, a salient angle;
      -- opposed to reentering. See Illust. of Bastion.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Her.) Represented in a leaping position; as, a lion
      salient.
      [1913 Webster]

   Salient angle. See Salient, a., 4.

   Salient polygon (Geom.), a polygon all of whose angles are
      salient.

   Salient polyhedron (Geom.), a polyhedron all of whose solid
      angles are salient.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

salient
    adj 1: having a quality that thrusts itself into attention; "an
           outstanding fact of our time is that nations poisoned by
           anti semitism proved less fortunate in regard to their
           own freedom"; "a new theory is the most prominent feature
           of the book"; "salient traits"; "a spectacular rise in
           prices"; "a striking thing about Picadilly Circus is the
           statue of Eros in the center"; "a striking resemblance
           between parent and child" [syn: outstanding,
           prominent, salient, spectacular, striking]
    2: (of angles) pointing outward at an angle of less than 180
       degrees [ant: re-entrant, reentrant]
    3: represented as leaping (rampant but leaning forward)
    n 1: (military) the part of the line of battle that projects
         closest to the enemy

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

128 Moby Thesaurus words for "salient":
   airspace, area, arrant, arresting, bas-relief, bellying, belt,
   blatant, bold, boldness, bulging, celebrated, chief, confines,
   conspicuous, continental shelf, corridor, country, department,
   distinctive, distinguished, distinguishing, district, division,
   embossment, eminence, eminent, emissile, environs, esteemed,
   estimable, exceptional, excrescence, excrescency, excrescent,
   excrescential, extraordinary, extruding, extrusion, flagrant,
   gibbosity, gibbousness, glaring, ground, hanging out, heartland,
   high relief, hinterland, important, impressive, in relief,
   in the foreground, intrusive, jutting, land, low relief, marked,
   memorable, milieu, moving, neighborhood, noble, notable,
   noteworthy, noticeable, notorious, obtrusive, obvious, of mark,
   offshore rights, ostensible, outstanding, part, parts, pertinent,
   place, precincts, premises, prestigious, primary, principal,
   prognathous, projecting, projection, prominence, prominent,
   pronounced, protrudent, protruding, protrusile, protrusion,
   protrusive, protuberance, protuberancy, protuberant, protuberating,
   purlieus, quarter, rare, region, relief, remarkable, rememberable,
   reputable, salience, section, signal, significant, soil, space,
   special, staring, stark-staring, sticking out, striking, telling,
   terrain, territory, three-mile limit, tuberosity, tuberousness,
   twelve-mile limit, unforgettable, unique, vicinage, vicinity,
   weighty, zone