adjective
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passing quickly away; transitory; fleeting
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botany lasting for only a short time
fugacious petals
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fugacious
1625–35; < Latin fugāci- (stem of fugāx apt to flee, fleet, derivative of fugere to flee + -ous
Explanation
Something that's fugacious lasts a very short time. You say you'll wear your trendy new jeans for years but the truth is, their style is so fugacious you'll feel silly in them long before they wear out. When you describe something that passes quickly, or that's ephemeral and fleeting, you can use the adjective fugacious. When you live in Maine, the summer seems fugacious, and after looking forward all year to your senior prom, you'll find the night so fugacious that it seems to last only an hour. The origin can be traced back to the Latin word fugax, which means "apt to flee, or timid."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Reporter, on the other hand, calls it "a fugacious bit of whimsy that can only be judged minor Woody Allen".
From The Guardian ● Jul. 18, 2014
Sporangia fasciculate, confluent on a persistent hypothallus, dark fuscous; peridia very fugacious; stipes united at the base, erect, furcate; spores large, brown, globose.
From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)
P. 1.5-2.5 cm. exp. obtuse, glabrous, moist, hygr. dingy yellow-brown or pale bay; g. adnate, broad; s. 2-3 cm. flocculose, dry, pallid, ring fugacious; sp.
From European Fungus Flora: Agaricaceae by Massee, George
Eheu! fugaces anni is a sigh that even the Latin primer teaches us; and though in schoolbook days calling the years fugacious seems absurd, we catch the meaning as they glide away.
From The Galaxy Vol. 23, No. 1 by Various
P. conico-exp. umb. with fugacious longitudinal fibrils, yellow-rufescent; g. very broad, yellow then pallid; s. equal, glabrous, striate. centurio, Kalchb.
From European Fungus Flora: Agaricaceae by Massee, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
