transient
Americanadjective
noun
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a person or thing that is transient, especially a temporary guest, boarder, laborer, or the like.
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Mathematics.
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a function that tends to zero as the independent variable tends to infinity.
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a solution, especially of a differential equation, having this property.
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Physics.
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a nonperiodic signal of short duration.
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a decaying signal, wave, or oscillation.
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Electricity. a sudden pulse of voltage or current.
adjective
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for a short time only; temporary or transitory
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philosophy a variant of transeunt
noun
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a transient person or thing
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physics a brief change in the state of a system, such as a sudden short-lived oscillation in the current flowing through a circuit
Related Words
See temporary.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of transient
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin trānsiēns “going across,” present participle of trānsīre “to go across, pass over”; see transit
Explanation
Use the adjective transient to describe something that always changes or moves around. If your older brother is constantly moving from city to city, you can say he's transient. Transient is most often used to modify nouns like nature, threat, source and cause, which suggests that the word often shows up in formal contexts, like analysis of finance or global terrorism. But it can also be used for anything that moves quickly from one thing to another, like a transient feeling or facial expression. Transient is also a noun meaning "a person who moves from place to place; a homeless person." The word comes from Latin transire, "to pass over," so you can think of it as describing things that are quickly passed over.
Vocabulary lists containing transient
The Declaration of Independence
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100 Top "SAT" Words
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was also tracked by the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, another NSF-funded Caltech project.
From Science Daily • Nov. 7, 2025
It was picked up by the Zwicky Transient Facility at Caltech.
From Slate • Aug. 5, 2023
Janus was spotted using the Zwicky Transient Facility at Caltech's Palomar Observatory near San Diego, with subsequent observations made by other ground-based telescopes.
From Reuters • Jul. 21, 2023
A flash in the sky was first automatically detected and recorded in 2020 by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California.
From BBC • May 12, 2023
Most Transient Visitants are found both in the spring and fall, but some, like the Connecticut Warbler, are found in the North Atlantic States only in the fall.
From What Bird is That? A Pocket Museum of the Land Birds of the Eastern United States Arranged According to Season by Chapman, Frank M.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
