| Main Entry: | fleeting |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | brief, transient |
Synonyms: |
cursory, ephemeral, evanescent, fading, flash in the pan, flitting, flying, fugacious, fugitive, impermanent, meteoric, momentary, passing, short, short-lived, sudden, temporary, transitory, vanishing, volatile |
Antonyms: |
constant, continual, endless, enduring, lasting, lengthy, long, long-lived, permanent, perpetual |
| Main Entry: | brief |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | short in time |
Synonyms: |
concise, curtailed, ephemeral, fast, fleeting, hasty, instantaneous, little, meteoric, momentary, passing, quick, short-lived, short-term, swift, temporary, transient, transitory |
Antonyms: |
enduring, lasting, lengthy, long, long-lived |
| Main Entry: | elusive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | evasive, mysterious |
Synonyms: |
ambiguous, baffling, cagey, deceitful, deceptive, difficult to catch, elusory, equivocal, evanescent, fallacious, fleeting, fraudulent, fugacious, fugitive, greasy, illusory, imponderable, incomprehensible, indefinable, insubstantial, intangible, misleading, occult, phantom, puzzling, shifty, shy, slippery, stonewalling, subtle, transient, transitory, tricky, unspecific, volatile |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge illusory means based on or having the nature of an illusion; elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture |
Antonyms: |
attracting, confronting, encountering, enticing, facing, inviting |
| Main Entry: | ephemeral |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | momentary, passing |
Synonyms: |
brief, episodic, evanescent, fleeting, flitting, fugacious, fugitive, impermanent, short, short-lived, temporary, transient, transitory, unenduring, volatile |
Antonyms: |
enduring, eternal, everlasting, interminable, lasting, long, permanent, perpetual |
| Main Entry: | evanescent |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | transient |
Synonyms: |
brief, disappearing, fading, fleeting, momentary, passing, short-lived, temporary, tenuous, vanishing |
| Main Entry: | fast |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | speedy |
Synonyms: |
PDQ, accelerated, active, agile, blue streak, breakneck, brisk, chop-chop, dashing, double-time, electric, expeditious, expeditive, flashing, fleet, fleeting, flying, hairtrigger, hasty, hot, hurried, hypersonic, in a jiffy, in nothing flat, lickety split, like a bat out of hell, like all get out, like crazy, like mad, nimble, on the double, posthaste, presto, pronto, quick, racing, rapid, ready, screamin', snap*, snappy, speedball, supersonic, swift, velocious, winged |
Antonyms: |
plodding, slow, tardy, unhurried |
| Main Entry: | flit |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | flutter, move rapidly |
Synonyms: |
dance, dart, flash, fleet, flicker, float, fly, hover, hurry, pass, run, rush, sail, scud, skim, speed, sweep, whisk, whiz, wing, zip |
| Main Entry: | fly |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | take to the air, usually employing wings |
Synonyms: |
aviate, barnstorm, bend the throttle, buzz*, circle, circumnavigate, climb, control, cross, dart, dash, dive, drift, flat-hat, fleet, flit, float, flutter, glide, hop, hover, hurry, jet, jet out, jet over, maneuver, mount, operate, pilot, reach, remain aloft, rush, sail, scud, seagull, shoot, skim, skirt, sky out, soar, speed, swoop, take a hop, take flight, take off, take wing, travel, whisk, whiz*, whoosh, wing in, wing*, zip, zoom* |
Antonyms: |
land, stay on ground, walk |
| Main Entry: | fly-by-night |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unreliable and shady |
Synonyms: |
brief, cowboy, disreputable, dubious, ephemeral, evanescent, fleeting, here-today-gone-tomorrow, impermanent, irresponsible, momentary, not to be relied upon, not to be trusted, passing, questionable, shady, shifty, short-lived, slimy*, slippery*, temporary, treacherous, trustless, undependable, unprofessional, unreliable, unsure, untrustworthy |
Antonyms: |
dependable, reliable, reputable, responsible, trustworthy |
| Main Entry: | fugitive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fleeing, transient |
Synonyms: |
avoiding, brief, criminal, elusive, ephemeral, errant, erratic, escaping, evading, evanescent, fleeting, flitting, flying*, fugacious, hot*, impermanent, lamster, momentary, moving, on the lam, passing, planetary, running away, short*, short-lived, temporary, transitory, unstable, volatile, wandering, wanted |
Antonyms: |
confronting, facing, permanent |