Ephemeral
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɛˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/, /əˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/
Origin
From New Latin ephemerus, from Ancient Greek á¼Ï†Î®Î¼ÎµÏος, the more common form of á¼Ï†Î·Î¼ÎÏιος (ephemerios, "of, for, or during the day, living or lasting but for a day, short-lived, temporary"), from á¼Ï€Î¯ (epi, "on") + ἡμÎÏα (hÄ“mera, "day").
Synonyms
- (short-lived) ephemeron
Adjective
ephemeral
- Lasting for a short period of time.
- Vicesimus KnoxEsteem, lasting esteem, the esteem of good men, like himself, will be his reward, when the gale of ephemeral popularity shall have gradually subsided.
- Sir J. Stephensentences not of ephemeral, but of eternal, efficacy
- 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Chapter 9It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows.
- (biology) Existing for only one day, as with some flowers, insects, and diseases.
- (geology, of a body of water) Usually dry, but filling with water for brief periods during and after precipitation.
- 1986, W.H. Raymond, "Clinoptilolite Deposit in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.A.", in YÅ«ichi Murakami et al. (editors), New Developments in Zeolite Science and Technology (conference proceedings), Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-444-98981-9, page 80:The graben constitutes a depositional basin and a topographic low, underlain by Cretaceous shales, in which volcanic debris accumulated in ephemeral lakes and streams in Oligocene and early Miocene time.
Synonyms
- (lasting for a short period of time) temporary, transitory, fleeting, evanescent, momentary, short-lived, short, volatile
Antonyms
- (lasting for a long period of time) permanent, eternal, everlasting, timeless.