ephemera

noun ephem·era \ i-ˈfe-mər-ə , -ˈfem-rə \

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Definition of ephemera

plural ephemera also ephemerae play \i-ˈfe-mər-ē, -ˈfem-rē\ or ephemeras

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

See ephemera defined for English-language learners

Examples of ephemera in a Sentence

He has a large collection of old menus and other ephemera.

Recent Examples of ephemera from the Web

One surprising remnant of '70s pop culture ephemera put an elementary school staff in a foul mood when a student used a restroom to change the color of his mood ring.

— howard cohen, miamiherald, "Here's how NOT to change the color of your mood ring. First-grader gets a hard lesson. | Miami Herald," 19 May 2018
Something else that Kevin was involved in was Bauhaus Undead, a book that collects memories and ephemera from your years together in Bauhaus.

— robert ham, Billboard, "Daniel Ash Talks Inspiration Behind New, But Retro, Band Poptone: 'It's Like Riding a Bicycle'," 1 June 2018
Mediated experience was a swirl of word-of-mouth ephemera and tribal mythology that persisted through unfaithful oral repetition.

— antonio garcía martínez, WIRED, "Facebook, Snapchat and the Dawn of the Post-Truth Era," 28 May 2018
And how do post offices safely deal with such insubstantial ephemera?

— sue wunder, The Christian Science Monitor, "The payback of follow-through," 23 May 2018
Silverman is a serious collector of ephemera — yet one with a wry sense of humor.

— sally friedman, Philly.com, "In South Philly, a depository for a lifetime of collecting," 25 Apr. 2018
Divesting herself of a trove of bugle beads and showbiz memorabilia, Liza Minnelli is putting more than 1,900 items from her designer wardrobe and extensive archives of Hollywood ephemera up for auction in May.

— frank decaro, New York Times, "Liza Minnelli Goes Marie Kondo; Old Holdings to Be Shown, Sold," 4 Apr. 2018
There are singing ushers who step in and out of the action, and, at one startling moment, just to underscore the fixedness of film versus the living ephemera of theater, Laura steps off the stage into her living room on screen.

— toby zinman, Philly.com, "Delightful update of Noel Coward's 'Brief Encounter' at Empire Cinema in London," 16 May 2018
An entire room is dedicated to Shepard Fairey, featuring a large mural wrapping around the walls, and a case filled with personal ephemera, art tools, and notes from the course of his career.

— brittany martin, Los Angeles Magazine, "There’s a Historical Re-Creation of the Venice Pavilion at This Massive Street Art Show," 4 May 2018

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.