Showing results for "ephemera"

• plural of ephemeron.

ephemera

American  

[ih-fem-er-uh] / ɪˈfɛm ər ə /

noun

• ephemeras,
  plural
• ephemerae
  plural

1. a plural of ephemeron.

2. an ephemerid.

---

ephemera British  

/ ɪˈfɛmərə /

noun

1. a mayfly, esp one of the genus Ephemera

2. something transitory or short-lived

3. (functioning as plural) a class of collectable items not originally intended to last for more than a short time, such as tickets, posters, postcards, or labels

4. a plural of ephemeron

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ephemerae
  plural
• ephemeras
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ephemera

1670–80; < Greek ephḗmera, neuter plural of ephḗmeros, taken as singular; see ephemeral

Explanation

Ephemera don't stick around for very long. You might enjoy such ephemera as sunsets and rainbows, things appearing only briefly, and so enjoyed all the more. In Latin, ephemera was a word for a fever that didn't last long. Today, ephemera is the plural form of ephemeron, which means "something impermanent or lasting only a short time." French historian Fernand Braudel referred to events as “the ephemera of history,” likening them to fireflies that light the dark for just a moment.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ephemera ephemerae ephemeras

The idea is to show ephemera that is beaten and weathered, says Worthington.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

It’s clear that “Forbidden Fruits” director and co-writer Meredith Alloway has marinated in plenty of ’90s teen movies and the kitschy pop-culture ephemera of that era.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026

Contemporaries were convinced that his motivation for publishing Mansfield’s ephemera wasn’t so much reverence for her talent as greed for hard cash.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

This is where the oils live, and the spices, and the half-forgotten jars of jam, olives, vinegars and other bits of kitchen ephemera that have been quietly waiting for their moment.

From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2026

Everything that counted, that is, in the valuation of the proscribed, and the victims who came like ephemera on the night wind to scorch and shrivel and be drained in their bright, illusive fires.

From Trail's End by George W. (George Washington) Ogden

Scanning the globe and the human ephemerae upon it from the point of view of a millionaire in years, Wells still considers that "Nazi Germany may well bring down conclusive disaster on our species."

From Time Magazine Archive

I do not, however, mean to say that they are the same flies, but more probably successive generations of ephemerae of the same species.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 324, July 26, 1828 by Various

Above, against the slaty-gray cloud-wrack, four exquisite slender girl-forms appeared, with loose hair, silver-gray drapery and gauzy wings as of ephemerae, flying in pursuit of the cloud.

From A Crystal Age by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson

Verily for us, the ephemerae of thought, this unbroken continuity of the sun of Egypt has more of melancholy even than the changing, overcast skies of our climate.

From Egypt (La Mort de Philae) by William Peter Baines

A curious thing about that night was a swarm of ephemerae so dense that it was like a blinding snowstorm.

From Philip Gilbert Hamerton An Autobiography, 1834-1858, and a Memoir by His Wife, 1858-1894 by Philip Gilbert Hamerton

To talk of "relaxations," whether in cultural or political control, or of economic or social reform, is to talk of ephemeras.

From Time Magazine Archive

Related Words

• collectibles