fleeting
- passing swiftly; vanishing quickly; transient; transitory: fleeting beauty; a fleeting glance.
Origin of fleeting
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comfleet2
- swift; rapid: to be fleet of foot; a fleet horse.
- to move swiftly; fly.
- Nautical. to change position; shift.
- Archaic.
- to glide along like a stream.
- to fade; vanish.
- Obsolete. to float; drift; swim.
- to cause (time) to pass lightly or swiftly.
- Nautical.
- to move or change the position of.
- to separate the blocks of (a tackle).
- to lay (a rope) along a deck.
Origin of fleet2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words
short-livedephemeraltransitorysuddencursoryfadingmomentarypassingflyingflittingshortevanescentfugitiveimpermanentmeteorictemporaryvolatilefugaciousExamples from the Web for fleeting
Contemporary Examples
Fleeting moments are captured and stored, whether we want them to be or not.
Part of the problem is that its prevalence was equally as fleeting as a smile itself.
What had seemed immutable and eternal (“With the Soviet Union forever”) turned out to be a fleeting episode.
Those of us who live here are a fickle bunch with fleeting attention spans.
That fleeting comedic moment exemplifies Aidy Bryant at her best.
How Aidy Bryant Stealthily Became Your Favorite ‘Saturday Night Live’ StarKevin Fallon
October 31, 2014
Historical Examples
Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique.
The girl looked up for a second with another of her fleeting, stealthy glances.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
I was palsied with doubt, and the golden moments were fleeting, were fleeting.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
Oh, there had been moments all the sweeter and more poignant because they had been so fleeting.
DustMr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
In such a scene none had leisure to note the fleeting moments.
The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper
fleeting
- rapid and transienta fleeting glimpse of the sea
fleet1
- a number of warships organized as a tactical unit
- all the warships of a nation
- a number of aircraft, ships, buses, etc, operating together or under the same ownership
Word Origin
fleet2
- rapid in movement; swift
- poetic fleeting; transient
- (intr) to move rapidly
- (intr) archaic to fade away smoothly; glide
- (tr) nautical
- to change the position of (a hawser)
- to pass (a messenger or lead) to a hawser from a winch for hauling in
- to spread apart (the blocks of a tackle)
- (intr) obsolete to float or swim
- (tr) obsolete to cause (time) to pass rapidly
Word Origin
fleet3
- mainly Southeast English a small coastal inlet; creek
Word Origin
Fleet
- a stream that formerly ran into the Thames between Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street and is now a covered sewer
- Also called: Fleet Prison (formerly) a London prison, esp used for holding debtors
Word Origin and History for fleeting
adj.
early 13c., "fickle, shifting, unstable," from Old English fleotende "floating, drifting," later "flying, moving swiftly," from present participle of fleotan (see fleet (v.)). Meaning "existing only briefly" is from 1560s.
fleet
adj.
"swift," 1520s, but probably older than the record; apparently from or cognate with Old Norse fliotr "swift," and from the root of fleet (v.)). Related: Fleetness.
fleet
v.
Old English fleotan "to float, drift, flow, swim, sail," later (c.1200) "to flow," from Proto-Germanic *fleut- (cf. Old Frisian fliata, Old Saxon fliotan "to flow," Old High German fliozzan "to float, flow," German flieszen "to flow," Old Norse fliota "to float, flow"), from PIE root *pleu- "to flow, run, swim" (see pluvial).
Meaning "to glide away like a stream, vanish imperceptibly" is from c.1200; hence "to fade, to vanish" (1570s). Related: Fleeted; fleeting.
fleet
n.
Old English fleot "ship, raft, floating vessel," from fleotan "to float" (see fleet (v.)). Sense of "naval force" is pre-1200. The Old English word also meant "creek, inlet, flow of water," especially one into the Thames near Ludgate Hill, which lent its name to Fleet Street (home of newspaper and magazine houses, standing for "the English press" since 1882), Fleet prison, etc.