'Transient' definitions:
Definition of 'transient'
From: WordNet
adjective
Of a mental act; causing effects outside the mind [syn: transeunt, transient] [ant: immanent, subjective]
adjective
Lasting a very short time; "the ephemeral joys of childhood"; "a passing fancy"; "youth's transient beauty"; "love is transitory but it is eternal"; "fugacious blossoms" [syn: ephemeral, passing, short-lived, transient, transitory, fugacious]
noun
One who stays for only a short time; "transient laborers"
noun
(physics) a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load
Definition of 'Transient'
From: GCIDE
- Transient \Tran"sient\, n. That which remains but for a brief time. --Glanvill. [1913 Webster] Transilience
Definition of 'Transient'
From: GCIDE
- 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]
Synonyms of 'transient'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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