ephemeral

Meanings

1. Lasting for a very short time.
2. In biology, living or lasting only a day or a very short season. (technical, biology)

Example sentences

• "The ephemeral beauty of cherry blossoms draws visitors every spring."

  Level C2, Meaning 1

• "Fame on the internet can be ephemeral, gone in a week."

  Level C2, Meaning 1

• "Mayflies are ephemeral insects, and some adults live less than a day."

  Level C2, Meaning 2

• "She wrote about the ephemeral joy of childhood summers."

  Level C2, Meaning 1

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• evanescent : Evanescent also means quickly fading, but it is used more for things that slowly vanish, such as a mist or a memory.
• temporary : Temporary just means not permanent. Ephemeral adds the feeling of being very brief and fleeting.

Word family and forms

Forms: more ephemeral, most ephemeral

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "ephemeral".

• ephemeral beauty
• ephemeral fame
• ephemeral pleasure
• the ephemeral nature of
• ephemeral art
• an ephemeral moment

Origin

Ephemeral comes from New Latin ephemerus and from the Greek ephemeros, which meant lasting only a day. The Greek is built from epi, meaning on, and hemera, meaning day, so an ephemeral thing was first a one day thing.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Picture an ephemeral flower that opens in the morning and is closed by evening: a one day flower.

Test yourself

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