evanescence

American  

[ev-uh-nes-uhns] / ˌɛv əˈnɛs əns /

noun

1. the quality of being fleeting or vanishing quickly; impermanence.

   the evanescence of dreams.

2. the act or fact of vanishing quickly.

   The target audience is left only with the dominant message after the evanescence of the advertisement.

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Etymology

Origin of evanescence

evanesc(ent) ( def. ) + -ence ( def. )

Example Sentences

Yu Ji’s cement sculptures take the shape of contorted human bodies—not uncomfortable but limberly twisted and folded—that are missing limbs; their contrasting materials and postures at once suggest permanence and evanescence.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

And when these apparitions vanish, the text’s overriding theme—of life’s evanescence but also its beauty—does finally dovetail with the ghostly images created by the technology.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

The book’s setting 30-odd years ago comes to dovetail with that age gap’s built-in sense of evanescence.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2023

A part of it is the evanescence, that it disappears.

From Washington Post • Oct. 18, 2021

How could she ever have thought evanescence was kinder?

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor