Transient
//ˈtɹan.zi.ənt// adj, noun
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Something that is transient.
- 2 (physics) a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load wordnet
- 3 A transient phenomenon, especially an electric current; a very brief surge.
- 4 one who stays for only a short time wordnet
- 5 A relatively loud, non-repeating signal in an audio waveform that occurs very quickly, such as the attack of a snare drum.
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- 6 A person who passes through a place for a short time; a traveller; a migrant worker.
"Then, within the space of a few months, there were more transients than there were locals, and the imbalance seemed morally wrong."
- 7 A homeless person.
- 8 A module that generally remains in memory only for a short time.
"The overhead in loading transients is a big time-waster."
- 9 A homestay. Philippines
Adjective
- 1 Passing or disappearing with time; transitory.
"a transient pleasure"
- 2 Remaining for only a brief time.
"a transient view of a landscape"
- 3 Decaying with time, especially exponentially.
- 4 having a positive probability of being left and never being visited again.
- 5 Occasional; isolated; one-off
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- 6 Passing through; passing from one person to another.
- 7 Intermediate.
- 8 Operating beyond itself; having an external effect.
Adjective
- 1 of a mental act; causing effects outside the mind wordnet
- 2 lasting a very short time wordnet
Example
More examples"Though his stay in Europe was transient, Spenser felt he had learned much more about interactions with other people from traveling than he did at college."
Etymology
From Late Latin transiēnt- (for classical transeunt-), stem of transiēns, present participle of trānsīre (“to go over, to pass”).
Related phrases
More for "transient"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.