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ephemeral. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
ephemeral, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
ephemeral in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
ephemeral you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From New Latin ephemerus, from Ancient Greek ἐφήμερος (ephḗmeros), the more common form of ἐφημέριος (ephēmérios, “of, for, or during the day, living or lasting but for a day, short-lived, temporary”), from ἐπί (epí, “on”) + ἡμέρα (hēméra, “day”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/, /əˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/
Noun
ephemeral (plural ephemerals)
- Something which lasts for a short period of time.
- Synonym: ephemeron
Derived terms
Adjective
ephemeral (comparative more ephemeral, superlative most ephemeral)
- Lasting for a short period of time.
- Synonyms: temporary, transitory, fleeting, evanescent, momentary, short-lived, short, volatile; see also Thesaurus:ephemeral
- Antonyms: permanent, eternal, everlasting, timeless
- 1821-1822, Vicesimus Knox, Remarks on the tendency of certain Clauses in a Bill now pending in Parliament to degrade Grammar Schools
- Esteem, lasting esteem, the esteem of good men, like himself, will be his reward, when the gale of ephemeral popularity shall have gradually subsided.
1853, James Stephen, Lecture on the right use of Books:sentences not of ephemeral, but of eternal, efficacy
1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 9, in Frankenstein, archived from the original on 3 April 2012:It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows.
- (biology) Existing for only one day, as with some flowers, insects, and diseases.
- (geology, of a body of water) Usually dry, but filling with water for brief periods during and after precipitation.
- 1986, W.H. Raymond, "Clinoptilolite Deposit in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.A.", in Yūichi Murakami et al. (editors), New Developments in Zeolite Science and Technology (conference proceedings), Elsevier, →ISBN, page 80:
- The graben constitutes a depositional basin and a topographic low, underlain by Cretaceous shales, in which volcanic debris accumulated in ephemeral lakes and streams in Oligocene and early Miocene time.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
lasting for a short period of time
- Armenian: վաղանցիկ (hy) (vaġancʻik), անցողիկ (hy) (ancʻoġik)
- Belarusian: эфемерны (efjemjerny), мінучы (minučy), недаўгавечны (njedaŭhavječny), мімалётны (mimaljótny)
- Bulgarian: краткотраен (bg) (kratkotraen), мимолетен (bg) (mimoleten)
- Catalan: efímer (ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 短暫嘅/短暂嘅 (dyun2 zaam6 ge3), 一時嘅/一时嘅 (jat1 si4 ge3)
- Mandarin: 短暫的/短暂的 (duǎnzàn de), 一時的/一时的 (yīshí de)
- Czech: dočasný (cs), krátkodobý (cs), efemerní
- Danish: midlertidig (da), kortlivet
- Dutch: vergankelijk (nl), kortstondig (nl), vluchtig (nl)
- Esperanto: efemera (eo) momenta
- Finnish: lyhytaikainen (fi), hetkellinen (fi), ohimenevä (fi)
- French: éphémère (fr)
- Galician: efémero (gl)
- German: flüchtig (de), kurzlebig (de), vergänglich (de), ephemer (de)
- Greek: εφήμερος (el) (efímeros)
- Hindi: क्षणभंगुर (hi) (kṣaṇbhaṅgur)
- Hungarian: kérészéletű (hu), efemer (hu), röpke (hu)
- Icelandic: skammvinnur, skammær, skammlífur, hverfull
- Indonesian: (please verify) bersifat sementara
- Irish: breacshaolach, gearrshaolach
- Italian: effimero (it), passeggero (it), fuggevole (it), transitorio (it), fugace (it)
- Japanese: はかない (ja) (hakanai), 束の間の (tsukanoma no)
- Korean: 재지 않는 (jaeji anneun)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: demkî (ku)
- Macedonian: кратко́траен (kratkótraen)
- Maori: rangitahi
- Norwegian: kortvarig
- Occitan: efemèr (oc)
- Polish: ulotny (pl), efemeryczny (pl)
- Portuguese:
- Brazilian: efêmero (pt)
- European: efémero (pt)
- Romanian: efemer (ro), trecător (ro)
- Russian: эфеме́рный (ru) (efemérnyj), преходящий (ru) (prexodjaščij), мимолётный (ru) (mimoljótnyj), недолговечный (ru) (nedolgovečnyj), непродолжительный (ru) (neprodolžitelʹnyj)
- Serbo-Croatian: ȅfemēran (sh), krȁtkotrājan (sh), prìvremen (sh)
- Slovene: kratkotrajen, začasen
- Spanish: efímero (es)
- Swedish: flyktig (sv), efemär (sv), förgänglig (sv), kortlivad (sv)
- Turkish: efemera, (technical term - botanics, biology etc)
- Ukrainian: ефемерний (efemernyj), швидкоплинний (švydkoplynnyj)
- Welsh: byrhoedlog (cy), undydd
|
existing for only one day
See also
Further reading
- “ephemeral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “ephemeral”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- ephemeral on Wikipedia.Wikipedia