Ephemeral
[ɪ'fem(ə)r(ə)l;-'fiːm-] or [ə'fɛmərəl]
Definition
(adj.) lasting a very short time; 'the ephemeral joys of childhood'; 'a passing fancy'; 'youth's transient beauty'; 'love is transitory but it is eternal'; 'fugacious blossoms' .
Edited by Candice--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; diurnal; as, an ephemeral flower.
(a.) Short-lived; existing or continuing for a short time only.
(n.) Anything lasting but a day, or a brief time; an ephemeral plant, insect, etc.
Inputed by Darlene
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Short-lived, transitory, transient, fleeting, flitting, evanescent, fugitive, fugacious, momentary, brief.
Typist: Rex
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Transient, evanescent, fleeting, fugacious, fugitive, momentary
ANT:Abiding, persistent, permanent, perpetual, eternal, perennial, immortal
Edited by Bradley
Examples
- Being lofty about the passing fad and the ephemeral outcry is all very well in the biographies of dead men, but rank nonsense in the rulers of real ones. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The ephemeral nature of the vast majority of hypotheses and the dange r to progress of accepting an unverified assumption justify the demand for demonstrative e vidence. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- These tinctured the silent bosom of the clouds above them and lit up their ephemeral caves, which seemed thenceforth to become scalding caldrons. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Hermione was established for ever, she herself was ephemeral and had not yet even arrived. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- As is usual with bright natures, the deity that lies ignominiously chained within an ephemeral human carcase shone out of him like a ray. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Why should I toil for years at art, and gain at the end but ephemeral fame? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- It is not surprising, therefore, that the public regard the scientific hypothesis with a kind of contempt; for a hypothesis (?π?θεσι?, foundation, supposition) is necessarily ephemeral. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
Editor: Tod