recent

adj

1. Having happened a short while ago.

   “Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.”

2. Up-to-date; not old-fashioned or dated.
3. Having done something a short while ago that distinguishes them as what they are called.

   “The cause has several hundred recent donors.”

   “I met three recent graduates at the conference.”

4. Particularly in geology, palaeontology, and astronomy: having occurred a relatively short time ago, but still potentially thousands or even millions of years ago.

   “Finding it now means it was produced in more recent times, in astronomical terms.”

5. (not-comparable, obsolete)Of the Holocene, particularly pre-21st century.

noun

1. A recently viewed or accessed item.

   “Obviously, the first time you launch this app, your Recents list is empty.”

name

1. (obsolete)The Holocene.

   “He [Charles Lyell] ignored Quaternary, a term he never accepted. The Recent addressed the age “tenanted by man,” which at the time barely extended beyond the chronicles of the Bible.”