ephemeral

[ ih-fem-er-uhl ]

adjective

1. lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory:

   The poem celebrates the ephemeral joys of childhood.

   Synonyms: brief, momentary, transient, evanescent, fleeting

   Antonyms: permanent

2. (of flowers or insects) lasting only a few days or less:

   Lily of the valley is an ephemeral flower.

3. being of temporary value or passing interest:

   She had a scrapbook full of ephemeral news clippings about forgotten events.

4. Computers.
   1. being or relating to messages, images, or other data that are written to temporary or virtual storage only, and are therefore liable to change or be lost unless copied to permanent storage immediately or within a very short time:

      Snapchat is an ephemeral messaging app.

   2. being or relating to a temporary storage medium, especially a virtual one:

      In case of a hardware failure this data will be lost, as it is only stored locally on an ephemeral drive.

noun

1. anything short-lived, such as certain flowers and insects.

ephemeral

/ ɪˈfɛmərəl /

adjective

1. lasting for only a short time; transitory; short-lived

   ephemeral pleasure

noun

1. a short-lived organism, such as the mayfly
2. a plant that completes its life cycle in less than one year, usually less than six months

Derived Forms

• eˌphemerˈality, noun
• eˈphemerally, adverb

Other Words From

• e·phem·er·al·ly adverb
• e·phem·er·al·ness noun
• non·e·phem·er·al adjective
• non·e·phem·er·al·ly adverb
• un·e·phem·er·al adjective
• un·e·phem·er·al·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of ephemeral¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from Greek ephḗmer(os) “short-lived, lasting a day” (from ep- ep- + hēmér(a) “day” + -os, adjective suffix) + -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of ephemeral¹

C16: from Greek ephēmeros lasting only a day, from hēmera day

Example Sentences

But given the ephemeral nature of China’s censorship apparatus, those tags can quickly evolve.

From Los Angeles Times

But a repeat of that effect probably will be ephemeral and won’t make newsgathering a sustainable business in an increasingly fragmented news environment.

From Los Angeles Times

“After an election, we do very little deep analysis of the actual vote and what actually happened. Like, that’s a 72-hour story, but we’ve spent months talking about polls which are ephemeral and often false.”

From Slate

The difference is that while Sinatra’s voice remains omnipresent in modern life, “the ephemeral magic of Johnny Carson, who loomed just as large and swung just as mightily … no longer hums and flickers into nightscape ambiance.”

From Los Angeles Times

Joy rather than euphoria, because as its powerhouse ending shows, the highs of Anora are no ephemeral feeling.

From Salon

Related Words

• fleeting
• short-lived
• transitory