tran·si·ent

(trăn′zē-ənt, -zhənt, -shənt)

adj.

1. Passing with time; transitory: "the transient beauty of youth" (Lydia M. Child).

2. Remaining in a place only a brief time: transient laborers.

3. Physics Decaying with time, especially as a simple exponential function of time.

1. One that is transient, especially a hotel guest or boarder who stays for only a brief time.

2. Physics A transient phenomenon or property, especially a transient electric current.

[Alteration of Latin trānsiēns, trānseunt-, present participle of trānsīre, to go over : trāns-, over; see trans- + īre, to go; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]

tran′si·ent·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

transient

(ˈtrænzɪənt)

adj

1. for a short time only; temporary or transitory

2. (Philosophy) philosophy a variant of transeunt

3. a transient person or thing

4. (General Physics) physics a brief change in the state of a system, such as a sudden short-lived oscillation in the current flowing through a circuit

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

ˈtransiently adv

ˈtransience, ˈtransiency n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tran•sient

(ˈtræn ʃənt, -ʒənt, -zi ənt)

adj.

1. not lasting, enduring, or permanent; transitory.

2. lasting only a short time; existing briefly; temporary: transient authority.

3. staying only a short time: transient guests at a hotel.

4. a person or thing that is transient, esp. a temporary guest, boarder, or laborer.

5. Physics.

a. a nonperiodic signal of short duration.

b. a decaying signal, wave, or oscillation.

6. a sudden pulse of voltage or current.

[1590–1600; < Latin transi(ēns), present participle of transīre to cross, pass (see transit) + -ent]

tran′science, tran′scien•cy, n.

tran′sient•ly, adv.

syn: See temporary.

transient

1. Personnel, ships, or craft stopping temporarily at a post, station, or port to which they are not assigned or attached, and having destination elsewhere.
2. An independent merchant ship calling at a port and sailing within 12 hours, and for which routing instructions to a further port have been promulgated.
3. An individual awaiting orders, transport, etc., at a post or station to which he or she is not attached or assigned.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	transient - one who stays for only a short time; "transient laborers" traveler, traveller - a person who changes location
	2.	transient - (physics) a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics" oscillation, vibration - (physics) a regular periodic variation in value about a mean
Adj.	1.	transient - of a mental act; causing effects outside the mind transeunt philosophy - the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics
	2.	transient - lasting a very short time; "the ephemeral joys of childhood"; "a passing fancy"; "youth's transient beauty"; "love is transitory but it is eternal"; "fugacious blossoms" ephemeral, fugacious, passing, short-lived, transitory impermanent, temporary - not permanent; not lasting; "politics is an impermanent factor of life"- James Thurber; "impermanent palm cottages"; "a temperary arrangement"; "temporary housing"

transient

adjective brief, passing, short-term, temporary, short, flying, fleeting, short-lived, fugitive, momentary, ephemeral, transitory, evanescent, impermanent, here today and gone tomorrow, fugacious the transient nature of high fashion
lasting, long-term, permanent, constant, enduring, persistent, eternal, abiding, durable, perpetual, long-lasting, undying, imperishable

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

transient

adjective

Lasting or existing only for a short time:

ephemeral, evanescent, fleet, fleeting, fugacious, fugitive, momentary, passing, short-lived, temporal, temporary, transitory.

Translations

transienttransitorisch

transitoire

transitorio

transient

[ˈtrænzɪənt]

A. ADJ → transitorio, pasajero

B. N (US) → transeúnte mf

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

transient

[ˈtrænziənt] adj [feeling, pain] → passager/ère; [relationship, quality, nature] → éphémère
the transient nature of fashion

(SCIENCE) [state, behaviour] → transitoire

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

transient

adj

life → kurz; grief, joy, pleasure → kurzlebig, vergänglich, vorübergehend; interest → kurzlebig, flüchtig, vorübergehend; the transient nature of something → die Kurzlebigkeit von etw

(US) transient population → nichtansässiger or nicht ansässiger Teil der Bevölkerung eines Ortes

n (US) → Durchreisende(r) mf

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

transient

[ˈtrænzɪənt] adj → transitorio/a, fugace

transient

adj transitorio, pasajero

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He tried to dispel these thoughts, he tried to persuade himself that he was not living for this transient life, but for the life of eternity, and that there was peace and love in his heart.

View in context

Colour, if Tradition speaks the truth, once for the space of half a dozen centuries or more, threw a transient splendour over the lives of our ancestors in the remotest ages.

View in context

Ogg's, which shows its aged, fluted red roofs and the broad gables of its wharves between the low wooded hill and the river-brink, tingeing the water with a soft purple hue under the transient glance of this February sun.

View in context

It may have been a flash of honesty in him; or mere prudential policy which, under the circumstance, imperiously forbade the slightest symptom of open disaffection, however transient, in the important chief officer of his ship.

View in context

There are passions, transient, fleeting, Loves in hostelries declar'd, Sunrise loves, with sunset ended, When the guest hath gone his way.

View in context

When they perceived in him signs of exhaustion, and he could no longer be provoked to make battle, they would dismount from their horses, approach him in the rear, and seizing him by the tail, jerk him from side to side, and drag him backward; until the frantic animal, gathering fresh strength from fury, would break from them, and rush, with flashing eyes and a hoarse bellowing, upon any enemy in sight; but in a little while, his transient excitement at an end, would pitch headlong on the ground, and expire.

View in context

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

View in context

But so far was she from being, in the words of Robert South, "in love with her own ruin," that the illusion was transient as lightning; cold reason came back to mock her spasmodic weakness; the ghastliness of her momentary pride would convict her, and recall her to reserved listlessness again.

View in context

When he listened to, or himself took part in, trivial conversations, when he read or heard of human baseness or folly, he was not horrified as formerly, and did not ask himself why men struggled so about these things when all is so transient and incomprehensible- but he remembered her as he had last seen her, and all his doubts vanished- not because she had answered the questions that had haunted him, but because his conception of her transferred him instantly to another, a brighter, realm of spiritual activity in which no one could be justified or guilty- a realm of beauty and love which it was worth living for.

View in context

Instead of making casual voyages, in transient ships, they established regular trading houses in the high latitudes, along the northwest coast of America, and upon the chain of the Aleutian Islands between Kamtschatka and the promontory of Alaska.

View in context

The transient fears of the company were now forgotten in their strong curiosity, and all faces were turned towards Silas, when the landlord, having seated himself again, said--

View in context

I was, however, obliged by circumstances to proceed on my journey, without leisure to take more than a transient view of Coningsburgh.

View in context