as in shortness
the state or quality of lasting only for a short time
the transience of spring in northern climates means residents get to enjoy temperate weather only briefly before the heat and humidity of summer set in
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Recent Examples of transience
Door-to-door efforts are stymied by cultural barriers, unfounded stories about vaccines, and the region’s poverty and transience.
—
CNN Money, 5 Aug. 2025
Davis arrived in September 2023 to the same sense of transience as Watford.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 31 July 2025
In the 21st century, an array of avant-garde fashion designers have been drawn to the beauty and ephemerality of glass, which serves as a meta commentary on the transience of fashion—and life itself.
—Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 July 2025
Taken together, the idea is to accept and celebrate imperfection and transience.
—AFAR Media, 10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for transience
CNN Money, 5 Aug. 2025
Davis arrived in September 2023 to the same sense of transience as Watford.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 31 July 2025
In the 21st century, an array of avant-garde fashion designers have been drawn to the beauty and ephemerality of glass, which serves as a meta commentary on the transience of fashion—and life itself.
—Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 July 2025
Taken together, the idea is to accept and celebrate imperfection and transience.
—AFAR Media, 10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for transience
Recent Examples of Synonyms for transience
Noun
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With Ryan O’Neal as the conniving fool who social-climbs and lies his way through war and peace, Kubrick matches perfectly paced, often-hilarious satire with a sanguine view of human selfishness and impermanence.—
Christina Newland,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
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The April cherry trees, with their brief pink opulence, seem infused with the spirit of mono no aware—the Japanese idea of the transience of things, the gentle sadness yet also the beauty of impermanence.—
Lauren Groff,
The Atlantic,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
But transiency in the back of the bullpen extends well beyond Woodward’s arrival.—
Dallas News,
Dallas News,
27 July 2022
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The council will hold a workshop outlining strategies and efforts to remedy homelessness and transiency in the city.—
Laura Groch,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 Feb. 2021
Noun
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The show reflects on the ephemerality of cultural memory.—
Douglas Markowitz,
Miami Herald,
5 Sep. 2025
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Yet even in its ephemerality, dumb dumb culture can offer catharsis, laughter or distraction — which, in the right moment, can feel like salvation.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Aug. 2025
Noun
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To explain why a gag is funny is to crush its soufflé evanescence.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
19 Mar. 2025
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The Stranger with its exploration of another facet of exile and belonging, this time set on a flood-prone German island that exists in a perpetual struggle between evanescence and permanence.—
Jay D. Weissberg,
Deadline,
19 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Transience.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/transience. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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