Definition of ephemera
ephemera
alsoephemerae
play \i-ˈfe-mər-ē, -ˈfem-rē\ orephemeras
1 : something of no lasting significance —usually used in plural
2 ephemera plural : paper items (such as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles
People Are Reading
Examples of ephemera in a Sentence
He has a large collection of old menus and other ephemera.
Recent Examples of ephemera from the Web
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The beauty of Bangs's writing is its messiness—the musings, tangents, anecdotes, and epigrams that somehow end up addressing the main point of his essay, and the way all this ephemera congeals into a coherent body of work.
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The Sewanee Cook Book offers another kind of biography, this time of community as well as colonial ephemera.
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Along the town’s Main Street, toy aliens, flying saucers and other extraterrestrial ephemera are sold in local shops.
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The material — comprising photographs, city directories, newspaper clippings, restaurant menus, oral histories and other assorted ephemera — is used by historians, researchers and genealogists.
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The price set a record for a Disney map and was among the highest ever paid for a piece of Disney ephemera at auction, organizers said.
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For these reasons, aircraft safety cards are a much sought-after piece of air travel ephemera.
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But most browsers will be tempted to linger the most at the wedding ephemera.
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Sorrels donated papers, clippings and other ephemera, including a peace quilt, to the archive.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ephemera.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of ephemera
New Latin, from Greek ephēmera, neuter plural of ephēmeros
EPHEMERA Defined for English Language Learners
ephemera
playDefinition of ephemera for English Language Learners
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: things that are important or useful for only a short time : items that were not meant to have lasting value
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