1. the hidden or disguised meanings, wishes, and ideas beneath the manifest content of any utterance or other form of communication.

2. in psychoanalytic theory, the unconscious wishes seeking expression in dreams or fantasies. This unconscious material is posited to encounter censorship (see censor) and to be distorted by the dream-work into symbolic representations to protect the ego. Through dream analysis, the latent content may be uncovered. See also dream censorship.