Word of the Day

Wednesday January 27, 2010

ephemeral [ih-FEM-er-ul]

adjective

Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; diurnal; as, an ephemeral flower.
Short-lived; existing or continuing for a short time only.

Then there's the issue of transparency, which voters across the ideological spectrum crave, the transparency Mr. Obama said would be the clear glass through which we could watch how his policies were made. Transparency turned out to be as ephemeral as a campaign slogan written on a balloon floating in the rafters at the convention hall.

Suzanne Fields, "The Obama Brown-out; President pays for broken promises", Washington Times, Jan 21, 2010
Nobody knows where it comes from. Most people can't even define it. But everybody with a film at the Sundance Film Festival wants it -- even though it's never clear that having it ultimately helps a film become successful. It's "buzz," that ephemeral energy that surrounds a movie and gets everybody talking about it.

Sean P Means, "Sundance: Predicting the 'buzz' is a tricky game", The Salt Lake Tribune, Jan 15, 2010
We buried my other maternal aunt—Aunt Adelaide—and wept, and partly forgot her; but her wonderful silk dresses—they would stand alone—still went rustling cheerfully about an ephemeral world.

H. G. Wells (1866 – 1946) An English author, best known for the science fiction genre. Certain Personal Matters

Origin of the Word

Ephemeral, approximately 1630, derives from Greek ephemeros "lasting only one day," from epi "on" + hemera "day."