fleeting

[ flee-ting ]

/ ˈfli tɪŋ /

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See synonyms for: fleeting / fleetingly on Thesaurus.com

adjective

passing swiftly; vanishing quickly; transient; transitory: fleeting beauty; a fleeting glance.

OTHER WORDS FOR fleeting

passing, flitting, flying, brief, fugitive.

See synonyms for fleeting on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of fleeting

Middle English word dating back to 1325–75; see origin at fleet², -ing²

OTHER WORDS FROM fleeting

fleet·ing·ly, adverbfleet·ing·ness, nounun·fleet·ing, adjective

Words nearby fleeting

fleet admiral, Fleet Air Arm, fleet ballistic missile submarine, fleet chief petty officer, fleet-footed, fleeting, fleet rate, Fleet Street, Fleetwood, Flegenheimer, flehmen

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fleeting in a sentence

Now, though, due to the pandemic, even those of us in urban environments find ourselves with a precious and fleeting opportunity to hear the sounds that the other inhabitants of the planet are making.
Has Nature Gotten Louder During the Pandemic?|Greg Noone|October 15, 2020|Outside Online
According to polling by Civiqs, for a fleeting moment early in the pandemic, there wasn’t such a big gap between Republicans and Democrats in terms of how they saw the economy.
September’s Jobs Report Is A Political Rorschach Test|Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux (Amelia.Thomson-DeVeaux@abc.com)|October 2, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Tracking demand and looking at year over year search trends, with Google Ads data as source, remains an accurate way to understand what changed for good, and what is just a fleeting trend depending on the short-term pandemic impact.
How would an SEO agency be built today? Part 1: Consumers and trends|Sponsored Content: SEOmonitor|September 4, 2020|Search Engine Land
Our experience of The Fabulous has been reduced to fleeting sound-bites and awkward livestreams.
‘Sunset Boulevard’ of broken dreams|David Ehrenstein|August 20, 2020|Washington Blade

The fleeting existence of the quark pair above, like many virtual events, is represented by a Feynman diagram with a closed “loop.”
The Mathematical Structure of Particle Collisions Comes Into View|Charlie Wood|August 20, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Fleeting moments are captured and stored, whether we want them to be or not.
Public Marriage Proposals Must Die|Tauriq Moosa|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Part of the problem is that its prevalence was equally as fleeting as a smile itself.
The French Court’s Royal Ban on Smiles|William O’Connor|December 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
What had seemed immutable and eternal (“With the Soviet Union forever”) turned out to be a fleeting episode.
How Havel Inspired the Velvet Revolution|Michael Zantovsky|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Those of us who live here are a fickle bunch with fleeting attention spans.
Catch Him If You Can: Reliving Banksy’s New York Invasion|Alex Suskind|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That fleeting comedic moment exemplifies Aidy Bryant at her best.
How Aidy Bryant Stealthily Became Your Favorite ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star|Kevin Fallon|October 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the impression was so fleeting as to be indefinable, and soon I was busy getting everyone settled in the car.
Uncanny Tales|Various
True, he offered her just what I did, and with it he gave those fleeting joys that wealth brings.
The Soldier of the Valley|Nelson Lloyd
Lady Hartledon looked back on her fleeting triumph; a triumph at the time certainly, but a short one.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood
Webber, the tall man with the tough face, watched the fleeting symbols and his face was stony.
The Stars, My Brothers|Edmond Hamilton
But everything in this world is fleeting and transitory, and therefore it is not easy to arrive at truth.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume I|John Lord

British Dictionary definitions for fleeting

fleeting

/ (ˈfliːtɪŋ) /

adjective

rapid and transienta fleeting glimpse of the sea

Derived forms of fleeting

fleetingly, adverbfleetingness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

fleeting

OTHER WORDS FOR fleeting

Origin of fleeting

OTHER WORDS FROM fleeting

Words nearby fleeting

Words related to fleeting

How to use fleeting in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fleeting

Derived forms of fleeting