temporarily
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of temporarily
Explanation
Temporarily describes something that happens for a limited amount of time. If you agree to watch your friend's dog temporarily, you'll be surprised if it turns out that your friend will be in France for at least two years. Temporarily is the adverbial form of "temporary," which comes from the Latin word tempus, meaning time. Something done temporarily is supposed to be concluded in a finite amount of time. If your car is temporarily out of commission, you expect that you will be able to fix it and get it back on the road. If you drop the word temporarily from that sentence, your car may be a goner.
Vocabulary lists containing temporarily
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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.
"It's a very old idea," he says, noting that net pens have been used to rehabilitate injured wild whales, or temporarily used while re-introducing captured orcas back into the wild.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
Production on ‘The Batman Part II’ has been temporarily paused while filmmaker Matt Reeves steps away for personal reasons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Going on vacation temporarily gets you away from your regular life.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Forty-three flights bound for Istanbul Airport had to be diverted Wednesday, as did three flights heading for Sabiha Gokcen on the Asian side, which temporarily suspended take-offs due to strong winds, the transport ministry said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
I ask, temporarily distracted from my sour mood.
From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.