ephemeral

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Lasting for a markedly brief time: "There remain some truths too ephemeral to be captured in the cold pages of a court transcript” (Irving R. Kaufman).
  2. adjective Living or lasting only for a day, as certain plants or insects do.
  3. noun A markedly short-lived thing.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples

  • It made expediency seem a shallow, ephemeral, and ultimately useless commodity. —  Clear and Present Danger
  • For how can we condemn some'thing that is ephemeral, in transit? —  The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  • "No, they don't." —  Aerie
  • They are ephemeral, often destructive. —  An Autobiography
  • Something ephemeral was caressing his stomach. —  Kingdoms of Light
 

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Ephemeral has been looked up 1138 times, favorited 17 times, listed 281 times, and commented on 5 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Greek ephēmeros : ep-, epi-, epi- + hēmerā, day.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from ephemerous + -al.
 

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/ɛˈfɛmərəl/
by American Heritage

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