fleeting

American  

[flee-ting] / ˈfli tɪŋ /

adjective

1. passing swiftly; vanishing quickly; transient; transitory.

   fleeting beauty;

   a fleeting glance.

   Synonyms:

   fugitive, brief, flying, passing

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fleeting British  

/ ˈfliːtɪŋ /

adjective

1. rapid and transient

   a fleeting glimpse of the sea

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Other Word Forms

• fleetingly adverb
• fleetingness noun
• unfleeting adjective

Etymology

Origin of fleeting

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English; fleet ² + -ing ²

Example Sentences

"Everyone's guard is down, and everyone's equally vulnerable. There's all these little snippets of conversation and fleeting, really intense, connections."

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

But their message—the Ozymandian nature of consumer goods—is like a nicotine hit: quickly and easily processed, enjoyable for a fleeting moment, but ultimately unsatisfying.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

“All of this suggests that the Fed’s inflation worries extend beyond weathering a fleeting wave of one-off price hikes associated with tariffs and, more recently, an energy price spike,” Stanley says.

From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026

“Power is fleeting, and at some point the shoe will always be on the other foot,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn said in January 2022.

From Salon • Mar. 18, 2026

Everyone else followed sense and command, and made for whatever fleeting safety they could find before the final cataclysm came.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• cursory
• ephemeral
• fading
• momentary
• short-lived
• sudden
• transitory