transient

[ tran-shuhnt, -zhuhnt, -zee-uhnt ]
See synonyms for: transienttransients on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. not lasting, enduring, or permanent; transitory.

  2. lasting only a short time; existing briefly; temporary: transient authority.

  1. staying only a short time: the transient guests at a hotel.

  2. Philosophy. transeunt.

noun
  1. a person or thing that is transient, especially a temporary guest, boarder, laborer, or the like.

  2. Mathematics.

    • a function that tends to zero as the independent variable tends to infinity.

    • a solution, especially of a differential equation, having this property.

  1. Physics.

    • a nonperiodic signal of short duration.

    • a decaying signal, wave, or oscillation.

  2. Electricity. a sudden pulse of voltage or current.

Origin of transient

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin trānsiēns “going across,” present participle of trānsīre “to go across, pass over”; see transit

synonym study For transient

2. See temporary.

Other words for transient

Opposites for transient

Other words from transient

  • tran·sient·ly, adverb
  • tran·sient·ness, noun
  • non·tran·sient, adjective
  • non·tran·sient·ly, adverb
  • non·tran·sient·ness, noun
  • un·tran·sient, adjective
  • un·tran·sient·ly, adverb
  • un·tran·sient·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for transient

transient

/ (ˈtrænzɪənt) /


adjective
  1. for a short time only; temporary or transitory

  2. philosophy a variant of transeunt

noun
  1. a transient person or thing

  2. physics a brief change in the state of a system, such as a sudden short-lived oscillation in the current flowing through a circuit

Origin of transient

1
C17: from Latin transiēns going over, from transīre to pass over, from trans- + īre to go

Derived forms of transient

  • transiently, adverb
  • transience or transiency, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012