Latent Nascent Incipient or Inchoate?

Quick facts for the day.

Latent, nascent, incipient, and inchoate are a group of adjectives with very similar meanings.  In fact, for all intensive purposes and purposeful intents, the latter 3 words are all interchangeable and mean "just beginning to emerge or exist," with the disclaimer that inchoate can also imply a state of chaos or incoherence.  But such properties of disorder often go hand in hand with things that have only recently begun to exist, so this additional definition doesn't throw us too far off the mark.

In any event, incipient and inchoate both derive from two different Latin words, each meaning "begin."  Nascent comes from a Latin word meaning "I am born." Spanish speakers may recognize the sound and form from the word "nacimiento," meaning "birth."

Latent, on the other hand, is similar but means something more along the lines of  "already existent, but laying dormant or concealed."  So, being latent could either serve as a prelude to becoming nascent, or could - if taken literally - preclude nascence, as it means the property in question has already existed for a while, albeit unknown.  Perhaps you have latent talents in you that, once practiced, start to manifest themselves as incipient talents.  Of course, by saying they were latent, we assumed they already existed, so it might be incorrect to say they are now incipient, or just beginning to exist.  Perhaps it would be more correct to say that your latent talents began to emerge as incipient skills.  I'll leave it up to you.

So, which should you use in a given situation?  The latter three words, as previously mentioned, can be used in pretty much similar circumstances as one another.  Situations where something is still in its rudimentary stages and has only recently formed or begun to emerge.  Things like budding flowers, growing embryos, or the extent of Josh Hamilton's philandering.  Latent should be used for things that already exist, but are lying hidden.  Things like fingerprints, a volcano's power, or the Kardashians' use to society.  Sorry, low-hanging fruit, I know.  I guess I should gone after a more worthy target, like Nickelback.