| Main Entry: | transitory |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | temporary |
Synonyms: |
impermanent, momentary, temporal, transient |
| Notes: | transient means brief or fleeting and usually applies to people; transitory means the same thing but usually applies to events |
Antonyms: |
permanent |
| Main Entry: | transitory |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | brief |
Synonyms: |
ephemeral, fleeting, fugacious, passing, short, short-lived |
Antonyms: |
lengthy, long-lived |
| Main Entry: | transitory |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fleeting |
Synonyms: |
brief, ephemeral, evanescent, fly by night, fugacious, impermanent, passing, temporal, temporary, transient |
Antonyms: |
lasting, 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: | 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: | 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 |
| Main Entry: | instantaneous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | immediate |
Synonyms: |
direct, fast, hair-trigger, in a flash, instant, momentary, quick, rapid, spontaneous, transitory |
Antonyms: |
delayed, eventual, late, later |
| Main Entry: | momentary |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | brief, fleeting |
Synonyms: |
cursory, dreamlike, ephemeral, evanescent, flashing, flitting, flying, fugacious, fugitive, gone in flash, hasty, impermanent, impulsive, in wink of an eye, instantaneous, like lightning, passing, quick, shifting, short, short-lived, spasmodic, summary, temporary, transient, transitory, vanishing, volatile |
Antonyms: |
lasting, long-lasting, permanent, staying |