fugacious

adjective

fyü-ˈgā-shəs How to pronounce fugacious (audio)
Definition of fugaciousnext
as in flash
lasting only for a short time savor the fugacious pleasures of life as intensely as the more enduring ones

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fugacious
  1. flash
  2. brief
  3. temporary
  4. transient
  5. passing
  6. evanescent
  7. ephemeral
  8. transitory
Adjective
  • Parts of Connecticut and New York, including the Albany area, remained under flash-flood warnings on Wednesday morning.
    — Kenton Gewecke, ABC News, 29 July 2026
  • Slow-moving storms may pose flash-flood risks across large portions of North, West, Central, South and East Texas beginning on Sunday, June 12, with the main threats expected early to mid-week.
    — Mateo Rosiles, USA Today, 14 July 2026
Definition of flash
Adjective
  • Domestic deployments have generally been reserved for relatively brief moments of extraordinary unrest, major security threats or natural disasters.
    — Steven Beynon, ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Discussion of the matter during Monday’s meeting was brief and dismissed, as the agenda instead focused on potential CFP expansion to 16 and 24 teams.
    — Chris Vannini, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of brief
Adjective
  • Aston Villa loanee Evann Guessand gets the temporary nod on the left over Yeremy Pino, who returned late after World Cup duty with Spain.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The phrase describes a common, temporary condition that research shows affects about 80% of people who give birth.
    — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of temporary
Adjective
  • These facilities can support fuel qualification, materials testing, transient behavior studies, and other technical work needed before a first-of-a-kind reactor can enter service.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Unionization is challenging with a large, disparate and transient group of athletes.
    — Justin Williams, New York Times, 31 July 2026
Definition of transient
Adjective
  • While the departure of running back David Montgomery and the acquisition of Isiah Pacheco deserve a passing glance during preseason, everyone knows this is Jahmyr Gibbs' backfield.
    — Gladys Louise Tyler, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026
  • May 21 – June 20 One idea is ready to become more than a passing thought.
    — Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of passing
Adjective
  • Still, this is evanescent stuff, hardly weighty enough to get mad about with respect to the aforementioned problematic areas.
    — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 28 Aug. 2025
  • The benefits of being a statesman, analysts say, can be evanescent if domestic woes keep piling up.
    — Mark Landler, New York Times, 23 Mar. 2025
Definition of evanescent
Adjective
  • Traditional cybersecurity, particularly Zero Trust's reliance on identity, is insufficient for these autonomous, ephemeral agents.
    — Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
  • The works are considered an exclamatory response to the institutional question of how to collect and display dance, a typically ephemeral form.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 29 July 2026
Definition of ephemeral
Adjective
  • The Fed woke up from its dream of transitory inflation and began to raise rates.
    — Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026
  • On the National Mall this week, Freedom 250 signs pointed visitors toward temporary state pavilions, a Ferris wheel and mobile, transitory history exhibits.
    — Luke Fountain, CNBC, 3 July 2026
Definition of transitory
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.

Browse Nearby Words

fuels
fugacious
fuggy
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Fugacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fugacious. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of vacuous

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Words of the Week - Aug. 14

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All