ephemeral

American  

[ih-fem-er-uhl] / ɪˈfɛm ər əl /

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.

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noun

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

ephemeral British  

/ ɪˈfɛmərəl /

adjective

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

   ephemeral pleasure

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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

Other Word Forms

• ephemerality noun
• ephemerally adverb
• ephemeralness noun
• nonephemeral adjective
• nonephemerally adverb
• unephemeral adjective
• unephemerally adverb

Etymology

Origin of ephemeral

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

Example Sentences

A crop rose that summer in the shadow of the Twin Towers, an ephemeral symbol of plenty beside the perpetually hungry wolves of Wall Street.

From The Wall Street Journal

Absorbing this well-chosen album is a treat, and a chance to appreciate the delicate mortality that thrives in a place simultaneously enormous, eternal and ephemeral.

From Los Angeles Times

Over the years, Chinatowns have offered me ephemeral homecomings in city after city without demanding that I make my home there.

From Los Angeles Times

The answer is into the electromagnetic spectrum, the borderless zone that is one endless border zone, allowing the free play of ephemeral legislation over fixed, physical bodies.

From Salon

The exhibition slips past the complications of World War II with just a few ephemeral examples before segueing into an accumulation of familiar pop-culture products.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• fleeting
• short-lived
• transitory