transient applies to what is actually short in its duration or stay.
a hotel catering primarily to transient guests
transitory applies to what is by its nature or essence bound to change, pass, or come to an end.
fame in the movies is transitory
ephemeral implies striking brevity of life or duration.
many slang words are ephemeral
momentary suggests coming and going quickly and therefore being merely a brief interruption of a more enduring state.
my feelings of guilt were only momentary
fugitive and fleeting imply passing so quickly as to make apprehending difficult.
let a fugitive smile flit across his face
fleeting moments of joy
evanescent suggests a quick vanishing and an airy or fragile quality.
the story has an evanescent touch of whimsy that is lost in translation
Example Sentences
the transitory nature of earthly pleasures
Recent Examples on the WebThat shift decreases the chances that the post-Labor Day boost is transitory. Peter Grant, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2022 Inflation may not be transitory but being leader of the U.K. Gerard Baker, WSJ, 5 Sep. 2022 Inflation, which economists once hoped was transitory, has proven to be anything but. Colin Lodewick, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2022 The current bout of inflation seems to have taken the markets and Fed, and everyone else who viewed it as transitory, by surprise. Jonathan Dash, Forbes, 25 Mar. 2022 Central bank textbooks see supply shocks’ effect on inflation as transitory so long as the public doesn’t expect permanently higher future inflation. Nick Timiraos, WSJ, 21 Mar. 2022 Inflation, which some economists initially thought would be transitory, has endured much longer than expected. Colin Lodewick, Fortune, 29 June 2022 Gates is careful to emphasize that term, and not ownership, recognizing that possession of any wonderful thing is transitory. Robert Ross, Robb Report, 5 July 2022 To many, the transitory inflation scenario seems too optimistic. Paul Swartz, Fortune, 8 Nov. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English transitorie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin transitorius, from Latin, of or allowing passage, from transire