fugacious

adjective

fu·​ga·​cious fyü-ˈgā-shəs 

: lasting a short time : evanescent

Did you know?

The word fugacious is too rare and unusual to qualify as vanilla, but the vanilla plant itself can be useful for recalling its meaning. Fugacious (which comes from Latin fugax, meaning “swift, fleeting,” and ultimately from fugere, “to run away”) describes the ephemeral—that is, those things in life that last only a brief time before fleeing or fading away. The word is often used to describe immaterial things, such as emotions, but botanists like to apply the word to plant parts (such as seeds, fruits, petals, and leaflets) that are quickly shed or dropped. Vanilla plants, for example, are said to have fugacious blossoms, as their flowers last only a single day during the blooming season. You may remember this the next time you’re baking with vanilla, and perhaps wishing that its rich, fugacious aroma would linger just a little bit longer.

Synonyms

• brief
• deciduous
• ephemeral
• evanescent
• flash
• fleeting
• fugitive
• impermanent
• momentary
• passing
• short-lived
• temporary
• transient
• transitory

Examples of fugacious in a Sentence

savor the fugacious pleasures of life as intensely as the more enduring ones

Recent Examples on the Web

And even long-term, canonical sources such as books and scholarly journals are in fugacious configurations—usually to support digital subscription models that require scarcity—that preclude ready long-term linking, even as their physical counterparts evaporate. —Jonathan Zittrain, The Atlantic, 30 June 2021

Word History

Etymology

Latin fugac-, fugax, from fugere

First Known Use

1634, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fugacious

• arenaceous
• argillaceous
• carbonaceous
• contumacious
• coriaceous
• efficacious
• farinaceous
• foliaceous
• membranaceous
• ochraceous
• olivaceous
• ostentatious

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