transitory

[tran-si-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee, -zi-]

adjective

1. not lasting, enduring, permanent, or eternal.

2. lasting only a short time; brief; short-lived; temporary.

   Antonyms: permanent

transitory

/ -trɪ, ˈtrænsɪtərɪ /

adjective

1. of short duration; transient or ephemeral

Other Word Forms

• transitorily adverb
• transitoriness noun
• untransitorily adverb
• untransitoriness noun
• untransitory adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of transitory¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English transitorie, from Late Latin trānsitōrius “fleeting” ( transit, -tory ¹ ); replacing Middle English transitoire, from Middle French, from Late Latin, as above

Word History and Origins

Origin of transitory¹

C14: from Church Latin transitōrius passing, from Latin transitus a crossing over; see _transient

Synonym Study

See temporary.

Example Sentences

Is queer humanity just a transitory circus in years of flourishing and a graveyard in years of shriveling?

Read more on Salon

Performers are robed and instruments are carried on ramshackle wheelbarrows, setting up the transitory mood of the night.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

For now, though, Matías says she is concentrated on helping her family adjust to a new way of life — albeit, she hopes, a transitory one, until they get back on the road to California.

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Other than pain at the injection site, fainting and other transitory conditions common to most vaccines, it has found evidence for one condition — myocarditis, a heart inflammation seen especially in men aged 12 to 29.

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Nor is he alone in his criticism of Powell, who infamously initially dismissed post-pandemic price inflation as "transitory" and has been faulted for being too focused on backward-looking data.

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Related Words

• ephemeral 
• fleeting 
• short-lived