Transitory
['trænsɪt(ə)rɪ;'trɑːns-;-nz-] or ['trænsətɔri]
Definition
(a.) Continuing only for a short time; not enduring; fleeting; evanescent.
Checked by Aubrey
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Transient, passing, fleeting, flitting, flying, temporary, evanescent, ephemeral, momentary, short, brief, fugacious, short-lived, not permanent, not lasting, not durable, not enduring, of short duration, here to-day and gone to-morrow.
Edited by Clare
Examples
- I should like to know what well-constituted mind, merely because it is transitory, dislikes roast beef? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- How far as yet was it anything more than a dazzling but transitory flourish of his own magnificent self? H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- This original engrossing of uncultivated lands, though a great, might have been but a transitory evil. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- And let us make the best of Becky's aristocratic pleasures likewise--for these too, like all other mortal delights, were but transitory. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- These feelings are transitory; each day's expectation delayed fills them with fear, and I almost dread a mutiny caused by this despair. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- I did not then know that it was no transitory blossom, but rather the radiant resemblance of one, cut in an indestructible gem. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- As to their sweetness, nothing is so transitory; its date is a moment, the twinkling of an eye. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Fears, yes; but unsystematic fears; fancies and freaks of the imagination, but personal and transitory freaks and fancies. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Is it the individual of whom I had formerly--hum--some--ha--slight transitory knowledge, and to whom I believe you have referred? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
Edited by Clare