WordNet
v. be inactive, as if asleep; "His work lay dormant for many years"
Usage examples of "lie dormant".
The eternality of his work, when he expresses himself, is merely the reflection of the automatism of life in which he is obliged to lie dormant, a sleeper on the back of sleep, waiting for the signal which will announce the moment of birth.
However long they can lie dormant in our genes, they're part of a panoply of ancient plagues.
I suspect that we may find that colonies of drones lie dormant in thousands of systems throughout the galaxy, waiting to be awakened by the first electromagnetic pulses resulting from an atomic explosion.
One large injection and then they will go into the body and lie dormant until a program is introduced, then they will reproduce to whatever quantity and types they need and begin the changes, cell by cell.
There are things there more dangerous than the Gnomes we seek to avoid, but most lie dormant.