impermanence
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of impermanence
First recorded in 1790–1800; equivalent to im- 2 ( def. ) + permanence ( def. )
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.
In my favor: though not a Buddhist, I am intellectually, if not spiritually, drawn to Buddhism’s doctrines of suffering, impermanence and nonattachment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
It was that sense of impermanence, she believes, that made the films special.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
Dahlia Lithwick: The book is deliberately rooted in this paradox of permanence and impermanence.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2025
By all measures, this is a movie that needs to do well, even for a studio that prides itself on the impermanence of its properties.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2025
The air of collective displacement, the impermanence of life in wartime and the gauche personalities of the more recent arrivals tended to dissipate my own sense of not belonging.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
