recentEnglishOxford American Thesaurusrecent adjective 1 recent research: new, the latest, late, current, fresh, modern, contemporary, present-day, up to date, up to the minute, latter-day, latter; rare neoteric. ▷antonyms old. 2 his recent visit: not long past, occurring/appearing recently; immediate, just gone. ▷antonyms former.word toolkitrecentSee new.