→ Temporary, passing away with time, lasting only a short while, momentary, fleeting, short-lived—in which -lived is commonly mispronounced with a short i as in give, when it should have a long i as in strive.
Does that pronunciation pronouncement surprise you? In short-lived and long-lived, the -lived does not come from the verb to live, as many think. It is formed from the noun life plus the suffix -ed. That is why pronunciation authorities and careful speakers have long preferred short-LYVD and long-LYVD, and why nearly all current American dictionaries give priority to the long-i pronunciation.
Since we’re discussing pronunciation I should point out that you will often hear educated speakers pronounce our keyword, transient, as TRAN-zee-int or TRAN-see-int, especially when the word is used as a noun to mean a homeless person, vagrant, or vagabond. Despite the popularity of these three-syllable variants, I recommend TRAN-shint, with two syllables, because it is the traditional American pronunciation and the one listed first in all the major current American dictionaries. Remember, transient sounds like ancient.
Challenging synonyms of the adjective transient include transitory, evanescent, ephemeral, fugitive, and fugacious. All of these words mean lasting only a short while, but let’s examine the fine distinctions in their meanings.
Transitory (TRAN-si-TOR-ee or TRAN-zi-) applies to something that by its nature is bound to pass away or come to an end. All life must by nature end; therefore life is transitory. When Andy Warhol said everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes, he was describing the transitory nature of fame—here one moment and gone the next.
Evanescent (EV-uh-NES-int) applies to that which fades away like vapor or vanishes as if into thin air: the evanescent beauty of springtime flowers. A shooting star creates an evanescent trail of light. An intense experience, no matter how brief and evanescent, can become a lifelong memory.
Ephemeral (e-FEM-uh-rul) by derivation means literally “living or lasting for only a day.” Newspaper writing used to be called “ephemeral literature” because the articles had a lifespan of only one day, with one day’s reportage ostensibly erased by the next day’s edition. From this original sense of lasting only a day, ephemeral has evolved to mean short-lived, existing for a short while. If when you meet people you have trouble remembering their names ten minutes later, you could say that you have an ephemeral memory for names.
Fugitive (FYOO-ji-tiv) and fugacious (fyoo-GAY-shus) come from the Latin fugere, to flee, run or fly away, the source also of the Latin expression tempus fugit (TEM-pus FYOO-jit), “time flies.” By derivation fugitive and fugacious mean fleeting, disposed to fly away or disappear. A fugitive, from the same Latin fugere, to flee, is a person who eludes pursuit, who flees from captivity or danger. The adjectives fugitive and fugacious both refer to things that are elusive, that are hard to catch or perceive because they happen or pass by so quickly: a fugitive smile; the fugitive colors of the sunset; our fugacious memories of childhood. We may pursue happiness, but it is fugacious.
Our keyword, transient, applies to anything that lasts temporarily or that is in the process of passing on. A transient guest stays for a while and moves on. A transient event is fleeting, momentary. A transient condition lasts for a short time.
Antonyms of transient include permanent, timeless, eternal, and everlasting.
