transient

American  

[tran-shuhnt, -zhuhnt, -zee-uhnt] / ˈtræn ʃənt, -ʒənt, -zi ənt /

adjective

1. 

   not lasting, enduring, or permanent; transitory.

2. lasting only a short time; existing briefly; temporary.

   transient authority.

   Synonyms:

   evanescent, fugitive, flying, fleeting

   Antonyms:

   permanent

3. staying only a short time.

   the transient guests at a hotel.

4. Philosophy. transeunt.

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noun

• transients
  plural

1. a person or thing that is transient, especially a temporary guest, boarder, laborer, or the like.

2. Mathematics.

   1. a function that tends to zero as the independent variable tends to infinity.

   2. a solution, especially of a differential equation, having this property.

3. Physics.

   1. a nonperiodic signal of short duration.

   2. a decaying signal, wave, or oscillation.

4. Electricity. a sudden pulse of voltage or current.

transient British  

/ ˈtrænzɪənt /

adjective

1. for a short time only; temporary or transitory

2. philosophy a variant of transeunt

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noun

1. a transient person or thing

2. physics a brief change in the state of a system, such as a sudden short-lived oscillation in the current flowing through a circuit

Synonym Usage

See temporary.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nontransientness
  noun
• transience
  noun
• transientness
  noun
• untransientness
  noun
• nontransient
  adjective
• untransient
  adjective
• nontransiently
  adverb
• transiently
  adverb
• untransiently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• transients
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of transient

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin trānsiēns “going across,” present participle of trānsīre “to go across, pass over”; see transit

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Explanation

Use the adjective transient to describe something that always changes or moves around. If your older brother is constantly moving from city to city, you can say he's transient. Transient is most often used to modify nouns like nature, threat, source and cause, which suggests that the word often shows up in formal contexts, like analysis of finance or global terrorism. But it can also be used for anything that moves quickly from one thing to another, like a transient feeling or facial expression. Transient is also a noun meaning "a person who moves from place to place; a homeless person." The word comes from Latin transire, "to pass over," so you can think of it as describing things that are quickly passed over.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

transient transients

It isn't the first government to try this, but existing algorithm controls are often transient and come with trade-offs in app functionality.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

The result is pure, rich excess — a fashion documentary unlike any other, that manages to capture the transient joy and whimsy of an era where fashion was allowed to be, dare I say, fun.

From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026

Decisionmakers—including the Supreme Court and even transient majorities—can get things wrong, until we set them right, or at least make them more perfect.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

Bubbling but likely transient worries about cheaper Chinese AI models haven’t helped, either.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Rush recalled that the comment “procured a transient smile, but it was soon succeeded by the solemnity with which the whole business was conducted.”

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

"The newly discovered soft X-ray component provides a new probe, indicating that the fast X-ray transients are also electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational-wave sources and may originate from compact object mergers," said Professor Troja.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

Meanwhile, he said the abandoned lot next door remains unsecured and swamped with trash from transients who frequent the site.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

When long-period radio transients were first discovered, many astronomers suspected they might be unusually slow-spinning neutron stars known as pulsars.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 2, 2026

These signals appear as very low frequency transients i.e. impulse like transition or settling signals recorded in horizontal ground motion, including both acceleration and tilt.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2026

Time was unorganized except for the communal work, field labor, gardening, woodcutting, maintenance, for which transients such as myself were called on by whatever group most needed a hand.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

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Related Words

• ephemeral
• fleeting
• short-term
• transitory

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