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
The clink of cutlery and the hiss of the grill, the clouds of steam rising off plates, the heady chaos that comes with a place of public convening, a destination as much as a place of transience.
—
Hazlitt, 10 Dec. 2025
But the house is also a benignly indifferent witness to the happiness and the strife that occur within its walls—and to the heartbreaking transience of human lives.
—Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
In a sport with so much transience, Holding, 36, not only stayed in San Diego but built a life here.
—Ryan Finley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Oct. 2025
Café Lisbeth hosts exhibitions on themes of transience and how humans have grappled with life’s passages throughout history.
—Diana Hubbell, Saveur, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for transience
Hazlitt, 10 Dec. 2025
But the house is also a benignly indifferent witness to the happiness and the strife that occur within its walls—and to the heartbreaking transience of human lives.
—Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
In a sport with so much transience, Holding, 36, not only stayed in San Diego but built a life here.
—Ryan Finley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Oct. 2025
Café Lisbeth hosts exhibitions on themes of transience and how humans have grappled with life’s passages throughout history.
—Diana Hubbell, Saveur, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for transience
Recent Examples of Synonyms for transience
Noun
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How much of his life, his desperate desire for success, greatness, had been prompted by his shortness?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Mar. 2026
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The team’s mean average height is 6-foot-4 due to the notable shortness of main rotation guards Tre Jones (6-foot-1) and Rob Dillingham (6-foot-2) and two-way guards Yuki Kawamura (5-foot-7) and Mac McClung (6-foot-2).—
Colleen Kane,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Personal stories of farewell, change, and the impermanence of life unfold above one of the world’s largest underground iron ore mines.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
12 Mar. 2026
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Co-created with local parents and their young children, the show explores the joys and impermanence of raising children, carrying children through life and witnessing a child’s journey.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
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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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There’s a certain catch-as-catch-can ephemerality to this work, which tends to appear for quick two- or three-day engagements, sometimes in familiar places—Lincoln Center’s dizzying Festival of Firsts (in the David Rubenstein Atrium, through Oct. 23), for instance—and sometimes farther afield.—
Helen Shaw,
New Yorker,
17 Oct. 2025
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Also in Japan there is a strong connection and respect towards nature, people in Japan appreciate the ephemerality of it.—
Caterina De Biasio,
Vogue,
24 Sep. 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 4 Apr. 2026.
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