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transilient

American  
[tran-sil-ee-uhnt, -sil-yuhnt] / trænˈsɪl i ənt, -ˈsɪl yənt /

adjective

  1. leaping or passing from one thing or state to another.


transilient British  
/ trænˈsɪlɪənt /

adjective

  1. passing quickly from one thing to another

"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

Other Word Forms

  • transilience noun

Etymology

Origin of transilient

1805–15; < Latin trānsilient- (stem of trānsiliēns ), present participle of trānsilīre to leap across, equivalent to trāns- trans- + -sili- (combining form of salīre to leap) + -ent- -ent

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 seems likely that the transilient advance was in the direction of increased cerebral complexity, associated with greater freedom of speech, and a strengthened sense of kinship.

From Project Gutenberg

From our frankly biological point of view there seems considerable warrant for the suggestion that Man arose as a saltatory or transilient variation or "sport" in a gregarious Simian stock, which was not too hard-pressed by a struggle for subsistence either as regards food or climate, which was not too severely menaced by ever-persecuting stronger foes, which lived in conditions implying some measure of temporary isolation, in-breeding, and daily "brain-stretching" education.

From Project Gutenberg

Such words as "freaks" and "sports" express a truth, suggested by Mr Galton's phrase "transilient variations," that organisms may pass with seeming abruptness from one form of equilibrium to another.

From Project Gutenberg

Transilient, tran-sil′i-ent, adj. leaping across.—n.

From Project Gutenberg

The occurrence of saltatory, transilient, or discontinuous variations or mutations.33.I.e.,

From Project Gutenberg