ephemera
Americannoun
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a mayfly, esp one of the genus Ephemera
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something transitory or short-lived
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(functioning as plural) a class of collectable items not originally intended to last for more than a short time, such as tickets, posters, postcards, or labels
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a plural of ephemeron
Etymology
Origin of ephemera
1670–80; < Greek ephḗmera, neuter plural of ephḗmeros, taken as singular; ephemeral
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If anything proves the market value of seemingly worthless ephemera, Walker added, it’s fans clawing for printed set lists at the end of a concert.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026
Contemporaries were convinced that his motivation for publishing Mansfield’s ephemera wasn’t so much reverence for her talent as greed for hard cash.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
How well can you recall the past 250 years of books, music, movies and other cultural ephemera that makes up our country?
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026
Stomach gnawing and hands slightly shaky, I loaded up on ephemera for fancy paninis, held together with swipes of giardiniera mayo, and splurged on some pastel-hued botanical sodas for drinking straight from the can.
From Salon • Jan. 1, 2026
She is the gaudy, party-coloured ephemera of street commerce, and will disappear from view in a fortnight's time, to be seen no more until the opening summer of '53.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 448 Volume 18, New Series, July 31, 1852 by Chambers, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
