Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

transient

[tran-shuh nt, -zhuh nt, -zee-uh nt]
See more synonyms for transient on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. not lasting, enduring, or permanent; transitory.
  2. lasting only a short time; existing briefly; temporary: transient authority.
  3. staying only a short time: the transient guests at a hotel.
  4. Philosophy. transeunt.
Show More
noun
  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.
Show More

Origin of transient

1590–1600; < Latin transi(ēns) (nominative singular), present participle of transīre to pass by, literally, go across + -ent; see transeunt
Related formstran·sient·ly, adverbtran·sient·ness, nounnon·tran·sient, adjectivenon·tran·sient·ly, adverbnon·tran·sient·ness, nounun·tran·sient, adjectiveun·tran·sient·ly, adverbun·tran·sient·ness, noun

Synonyms

See more synonyms for transient on Thesaurus.com
2. fleeting, flitting, flying, fugitive, evanescent. See temporary.

Antonyms

2. permanent.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for transiently

Historical Examples

  • But once—that transiently—yet sufficient to convince me that she is charming.

    A Bold Stroke for a Husband

    Hannah Cowley

  • I could manifest myself as palely, as transiently, as a thought.

  • These not only survived him, but were destined, in the end, to overcome the power which had transiently overthrown them.

  • He who read through her lustrous, transiently dwelling eyes had not that security.

  • They knew whose lips were there, and, for that moment, they did not recall the hands so transiently blest.

British Dictionary definitions for transiently

transient

adjective
  1. for a short time only; temporary or transitory
  2. philosophy a variant of transeunt
Show More
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
Show More
Derived Formstransiently, adverbtransience or transiency, noun

Word Origin

C17: from Latin transiēns going over, from transīre to pass over, from trans- + īre to go
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

Word Origin and History for transiently

transient

adj.

c.1600, from Latin transiens (accusative transientem) "passing over or away," present participle of transire "cross over, pass away," from trans- "across" (see trans-) + ire "to go" (see ion). The noun is first attested 1650s; specific sense of "transient guest or boarder" first recorded 1880.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper