Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A vanishing away; gradual departure or disappearance; dissipation, as of vapor.
- n. The quality of being evanescent; liability to vanish and escape observation or possession: as, the evanescence of mist or dew; the evanescence of earthly hopes.
Wiktionary
- n. The act or state of vanishing away; disappearance;
- n. The event of fading and gradually vanishing from sight;
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act or state of vanishing away; disappearance.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the event of fading and gradually vanishing from sight
Examples
“PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE nononononononononononono evanescence would definetly be good on the soundtrack …”
“Steps start off classical – pirouettes from fourth position – then acquire jazzy helicopter arms, or evaporate into a noodling evanescence.”
“Perhaps fear of evanescence will then start to pass away.”
The Guardian: There's a big cloud hanging over your hard drive | Observer editorial
“His is a strain of conceptualist evanescence that is highly material in its rudiment - a matter of celluloid disintegrated into acrylic emulsion.”
The Huffington Post: ArtScene: This Month's Top Exhibitions in the Western United States
“She wore mint-colored scrubs and had just blown a blizzard of bubbles for a crowd of Jamaican children, whose hands were raised in an effort to seize the evanescence.”
“Yet for all the exuberance of such songs, Porter also writes poignantly about his great theme: the evanescence of human attachments and the dreams they embody.”
“Short of death, there are few things that remind one of the evanescence of life as profoundly as the realization that when loved ones go they often take with them, and forever, information they would have had at their fingertips.”
“This moment is poignant in its evanescence but also exhilarating -- there's a contagious optimism here, from the girl's palpable joy to the vivid colors and dynamic flux of form and reflection.”
The Huffington Post: Patricia Ciaffa Peyser: Drown the Dolls: Daena Title at Koplin Del Rio
“What a startling thought: that the very evanescence of things can be a cause for joy, and a way to see this ever-changing, ever-aging world as a thing of beauty.”
The Huffington Post: Lewis Richmond: Buddhist Thoughts on Impermanence, Plutonium and Beauty
“Ms. Goldstein takes comfort in the evanescence of New Year's resolutions.”
The Wall Street Journal: New Year's Resolutions Have Gym-Goers Getting Pretty Exercised
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘evanescence’.
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 136 more...
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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Words that sound nice
I can't say exactly what makes these words sound so harmonious...the finely balanced distribution of consonants and vowels? the lack of harsh sounds? the regal elegance of Latin roots? anyway...
felicity, luminous, caliper, amatory, valedictorian, sanatorium, nice, chrysalis, luminosity, luminescence, senescence, evanescence and 6 more...
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Greg's List
precarious, transient, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, transitoriness, volatility, caducity, span, interregnum, effervescent, mine and 63 more...
shevek The band ruined the word for me. Jul 17, 2008
uselessness Also, one kick-awesome band. May 17, 2007
samoritan Emily Dickinson used this word to refer to the delicate shine of color in a hummingbird:
A route of evanescence
With a revolving wheel;
A resonance of emerald,
A rush of cochineal;
And every blossom on the bush
Adjusts its tumbled head, --
The mail from Tunis, probably,
An easy morning's ride.
May 17, 2007