Trivia Time

Which platform first popularized the idea of ephemeral online content?

Test Your Knowledge

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.

---

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

---

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

Explanation

Something that is fleeting or short-lived is ephemeral, like a fly that lives for one day or text messages flitting from cellphone to cellphone. Ephemeral (ə-FEM-ər-əl) was originally a medical term with the specific meaning "lasting only one day," as a fever or sickness (Hemera means "day" in Greek.) The word became more general, coming to mean "lasting a short time," covering the life spans of plants or insects and then eventually anything that is fleeting or transitory. A related word is the plural noun ephemera, meaning "things that are meant to last for only a short time." Posters for a rock concert are often ephemera, unless the band is so famous that they get saved and sold on eBay.

Example Sentences

Called High Performance, it would become one of a handful of magazines in Los Angeles at the time that documented ephemeral art and functioned as an alternative space for performance artists.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026

She felt compelled to create an in-person experience that was distinctly human — something true and personal — the antithesis of the digitally-saturated, fragmented and ephemeral world we live in, where truth is often opaque.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2026

And the chair would be something worthy of as much lunch discussion as any horrific international crisis or ephemeral gossip.

From Salon • Feb. 18, 2026

Many are ephemeral; fleeting leaf sculptures that blow away into the forest or giant snowballs placed in the city of London which melted to disclose sticks and stones.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2026

Sarai kicked at the surface and watched the flying droplets shiver ephemeral rainbows.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• fleeting
• short-lived
• transitory