transient

Transient \Tran"sient\, a. [L. transiens, -entis, p. pr. of transire, transitum, to go or pass over. See Trance.]

1. Passing before the sight or perception, or, as it were, moving over or across a space or scene viewed, and then disappearing; hence, of short duration; not permanent; not lasting or durable; not stationary; passing; fleeting; brief; transitory; as, transient pleasure. "Measured this transient world." --Milton. [1913 Webster]

2. Hasty; momentary; imperfect; brief; as, a transient view of a landscape. [1913 Webster]

3. Staying for a short time; not regular or permanent; as, a transient guest; transient boarders. [Colloq. U. S.]

[1913 Webster]

Syn: Transient, Transitory, Fleeting.

Usage: Transient represents a thing as brief at the best; transitory, as liable at any moment to pass away. Fleeting goes further, and represents it as in the act of taking its flight. Life is transient; its joys are transitory; its hours are fleeting. [1913 Webster]

What is loose love? A transient gust. --Pope [1913 Webster]

If [we love] transitory things, which soon decay, Age must be loveliest at the latest day. --Donne. [1913 Webster]

O fleeting joys Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes. --Milton. [1913 Webster] -- Tran"sient*ly, adv. -- Tran"sient*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

Transient \Tran"sient\, n. That which remains but for a brief time. --Glanvill. [1913 Webster] Transilience

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

188 Moby Thesaurus words for "transient": able to adapt, adaptable, adjustable, adventurer, alpinist, alterable, alterative, arising, astronaut, board-and-roomer, boarder, brief, brittle, camper, capricious, changeable, checkered, circumforaneous, climber, comers and goers, coming, commuter, compact, compendious, concise, corruptible, cosmopolite, cruiser, curt, curtal, curtate, deciduous, decurtate, disappearing, discursive, dissolving, divagatory, drifting, dying, emanating, emanative, emanent, emergent, emerging, ephemeral, errant, evanescent, evaporating, ever-changing, excursionist, explorer, fading, fare, fickle, fleeting, flexible, flitting, floating, fluid, fly-by-night, flying, footloose, footloose and fancy-free, forthcoming, fragile, frail, fugacious, fugitive, gadding, globe-girdler, globe-trotter, goer, gypsy-like, gypsyish, hajji, impermanent, impetuous, impulsive, inconstant, instantaneous, insubstantial, issuing, jet set, jet-setter, journeyer, kaleidoscopic, landloping, lessee, little, lodger, low, malleable, many-sided, mariner, meandering, melting, metamorphic, migrational, migratory, mobile, modifiable, momentaneous, momentary, mortal, mountaineer, movable, mutable, nomad, nomadic, nondurable, nonpermanent, nonuniform, palmer, passenger, passer, passerby, passing, pathfinder, paying guest, perishable, permutable, pilgrim, pioneer, plastic, protean, proteiform, rambling, ranging, renter, resilient, roaming, roomer, roving, rubberneck, rubbernecker, rubbery, sailor, shifting, short, short and sweet, short-lived, short-term, sightseer, sojourner, straggling, straphanger, straying, strolling, subject to death, succinct, summary, supple, surfacing, synoptic, temporal, temporary, temporary lodger, tenant, tourer, tourist, trailblazer, trailbreaker, traipsing, transeunt, transient guest, transitive, transitory, transmigratory, traveler, trekker, tripper, underlessee, undurable, unenduring, unstable, vagabond, vagrant, vanishing, variable, viator, visiting fireman, volatile, voortrekker, voyager, voyageur, wandering, wayfarer, world-traveler

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

transient adj
1: of a mental act; causing effects outside the mind [syn: transeunt] [ant: immanent]
2: enduring a very short time; "the ephemeral joys of childhood"; "a passing fancy"; "youth's transient beauty"; "love is transitory but at is eternal"; "fugacious blossoms" [syn: ephemeral, passing, short-lived, transitory, fugacious]

noun

1: one who stays for only a short time; "transient laborers"
2: (physics) a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Transient \Tran"sient\, n. That which remains but for a brief time. --Glanvill.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Transient \Tran"sient\, a. [L. transiens, -entis, p. pr. of transire, transitum, to go or pass over. See Trance.]

1. Passing before the sight or perception, or, as it were, moving over or across a space or scene viewed, and then disappearing; hence, of short duration; not permanent; not lasting or durable; not stationary; passing; fleeting; brief; transitory; as, transient pleasure. ``Measured this transient world.'' --Milton.

2. Hasty; momentary; imperfect; brief; as, a transient view of a landscape.

3. Staying for a short time; not regular or permanent; as, a transient guest; transient boarders. [Colloq. U. S.]

Syn: Transient, Transitory, Fleeting.

Usage: Transient represents a thing as brief at the best; transitory, as liable at any moment to pass away. Fleeting goes further, and represents it as in the act of taking its flight. Life is transient; its joys are transitory; its hours are fleeting.

What is loose love? A transient gust. --Pope

If [we love] transitory things, which soon decay, Age must be loveliest at the latest day. --Donne.

O fleeting joys Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes. --Milton. -- Tran"sient*ly, adv. -- Tran"sient*ness, n.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)