Definition of TRANSIENT (original) (raw)
1
a
: passing especially quickly into and out of existence : transitory
b
: passing through or by a place with only a brief stay or sojourn
2
: affecting something or producing results beyond itself
1
a
: a guest or boarder who stays only briefly
b
: a person traveling about usually in search of work
2
a
: a temporary oscillation that occurs in a circuit because of a sudden change of voltage or of load
b
: a transient current or voltage
Did you know?
A transient mood is one that passes quickly. A brief stopover in a town on your way to somewhere else is a transient visit. A summer job on a farm is transient work, lasting only as long as the growing season. You may occasionally experience a transient episode of dizziness or weakness, which vanishes without a trace. As a noun, transient means a person who passes through a place, staying only briefly.
Synonyms
Choose the Right Synonym for transient
a hotel catering primarily to transient guests
transitory applies to what is by its nature or essence bound to change, pass, or come to an end.
fame in the movies is transitory
ephemeral implies striking brevity of life or duration.
many slang words are ephemeral
momentary suggests coming and going quickly and therefore being merely a brief interruption of a more enduring state.
my feelings of guilt were only momentary
fugitive and fleeting imply passing so quickly as to make apprehending difficult.
let a fugitive smile flit across his face
evanescent suggests a quick vanishing and an airy or fragile quality.
the story has an evanescent touch of whimsy that is lost in translation
Examples of transient in a Sentence
Adjective
A Summer in New York is actually Europe, the Sequel—city of transient Danes and Italians and Spaniards and French. —
Guy Trebay, Village Voice, 30 July 1991 But Vandenberg, who had already written a hagiographic biography of Hamilton, was doing his personal hero no service. Rather, he trivialized him by dragging him into the transient issues of the day. —John Steele Gordon, American Heritage, July/August 1990 The mountain lies between his residence and the main road, and occludes the expectation of transient visits. —Thomas Jefferson, letter, 4 Aug. 1820
had transient thoughts of quitting her job and going back to school
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
His long-exposure images are meditations on how moments flow and blur together, turning transient beauty into something lasting. —Sara Smith, Variety, 16 Dec. 2024 Bartonella, a bacterium commonly spread by fleas and body lice but also carried by bedbugs, is especially common among people experiencing homelessness, for instance, but very little research on bedbugs has been done in transient homeless populations. —Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2024
The suspect, a 58-year-old man who authorities said was a transient, was arrested by BART Police about 5:55 a.m. Friday at the Pittsburg/Bay Point Station. —Harry Harris, The Mercury News, 20 Dec. 2024 All historians learn to live with the longing to know what’s vanished, but surely historians of the senses are in pursuit of the most transient of all: the archaic sensorium. —Michelle Weber, Longreads, 15 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for transient 
Word History
Etymology
Adjective and Noun
Latin transeunt-, transiens, present participle of transire to cross, pass by, from trans- + ire to go — more at issue entry 1
First Known Use
Adjective
1599, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Noun
1660, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of transient was in 1599
Dictionary Entries Near transient
Cite this Entry
“Transient.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transient. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024.
Share
More from Merriam-Webster on transient
Last Updated: 26 Dec 2024 - Updated example sentences
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!