Synonym Chooser

How is the word fleeting different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of fleeting are ephemeral, evanescent, fugitive, momentary, transient, and transitory. While all these words mean "lasting or staying only a short time," fugitive and fleeting imply passing so quickly as to make apprehending difficult.

let a fugitive smile flit across his face
fleeting moments of joy

In what contexts can ephemeral take the place of fleeting?

The words ephemeral and fleeting are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, ephemeral implies striking brevity of life or duration.

many slang words are ephemeral

Where would evanescent be a reasonable alternative to fleeting?

While the synonyms evanescent and fleeting are close in meaning, evanescent suggests a quick vanishing and an airy or fragile quality.

the story has an evanescent touch of whimsy that is lost in translation

When is it sensible to use momentary instead of fleeting?

The synonyms momentary and fleeting are sometimes interchangeable, but 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

When might transient be a better fit than fleeting?

The meanings of transient and fleeting largely overlap; however, transient applies to what is actually short in its duration or stay.

a hotel catering primarily to transient guests

When is transitory a more appropriate choice than fleeting?

The words transitory and fleeting can be used in similar contexts, but 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

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of fleeting For a fleeting moment in March, the Facebook page of Yojani, a Venezuelan migrant whose last name is withheld for her security, looked like a recap of a family vacation. Whitney Eulich, Christian Science Monitor, 2 June 2025 For a fleeting moment ahead of the first meeting in mid-May 2025, there existed the faintest prospect that Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine would join, sitting down in the same room for face-to-face talks. Anna Batta, The Conversation, 2 June 2025 But for a fleeting moment in December, Major League Baseball and Banana Ball were almost linked. Anthony De Leon, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2025 For most student-athletes, a high school sports career is a fleeting chapter — one final run with childhood teammates before life pulls everyone in different directions. Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for fleeting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fleeting
Adjective
  • Don’t let the lack of flash fool you — this guy is the real deal.
    Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2025
  • The German figures come a day before the scheduled release of flash inflation data for the euro area, which will be closely watched by investors for guidance on the odds of another interest rate cut from the European Central Bank.
    Sophie Kiderlin, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2024
Adjective
  • There’s likely a good movie somewhere on the cutting room floor, since these ideas make brief appearances, but that they’re seldom explored speaks to a film whose roughest edges have been sanded down.
    Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 17 June 2025
  • Include a brief description of the destination next to each code.
    Sharat Potharaju, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
Adjective
  • The Strong Families program offers temporary safe homes for children while their parents work through short-term difficulties, helping prevent the need for child welfare intervention.
    Linda Mcintosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 June 2025
  • The commission approved temporary storage sites in Texas in 2021 because nuclear power plants were running out of room and the permanent underground storage facility planned for Nevada’s Yucca Mountain stalled largely due to local opposition.
    Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 19 June 2025
Adjective
  • Compared to an initial version of the budgets presented to City Council members in May, the ones that were adopted include an additional $194,000 and $160,000 in transient occupancy tax revenue for 2026 and 2027, respectively.
    Luke Harold, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 June 2025
  • What explosive and transient events occur in the universe?
    Robert Lea, Space.com, 20 June 2025
Adjective
  • According to Ben Taylor’s Passer Rating metric, this past season was the best passing year of Robinson’s career – grading as a respectable 5.3 out of 10 (53rd percentile).
    Mat Issa, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
  • With each passing year, the anniversaries of key events in World War II serve as a reminder of our slow loss of a great generation of Americans.
    Medianews Group, Hartford Courant, 4 June 2025
Adjective
  • There’s a transitory nature in a lot of communities, so maybe people don’t feel as invested in them.
    Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 15 June 2025
  • The tall, free-standing treehouses were designed to be folded and moved elsewhere by their inhabitants who, because of the area’s vulnerability to climate change, live a transitory lifestyle.
    Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 5 June 2025
Adjective
  • Rogen lands a few funny lines, but the jokes mostly serve to distract from the point of the story: that freedom is ephemeral and easily corrupted, while humans are inherently piggish (as opposed to the other way around), seizing the first opportunity to take more than their share.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 June 2025
  • Episodes of natural selection are sometimes ephemeral, and evidence of them vanishes from our genomes when the selective pressures subside or when populations mix.
    Kermit Pattison, Scientific American, 20 May 2025
Adjective
  • Because all of the major waves of selling in the wake of some incident of uncertainty were caused by momentary risk that did not ultimately threaten stocks, or the banking system — or, ultimately, the economy.
    Jim Cramer, CNBC, 23 June 2025
  • The two benches and dugouts cleared as the two men made momentary physical contact, sparking a brown and blue mosh pit of sorts behind home plate to cap a series that left both sides more black and blue and chapped than anything else.
    Dennis Lin, New York Times, 20 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Fleeting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fleeting. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.

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