# fleeting

Pronunciation: say "FLEE-ting" /ˈfliːtɪŋ/

## Adjective

1. Passing quickly and lasting only a short time before it ends.
   - Simple: Lasting only a very short time before it is gone.
   - _A fleeting glance passed between the two old friends across the crowded room._
   - _Fame can be fleeting, gone almost as soon as it arrives._

## Verb

2. Present participle of fleet. — present participle and gerund of fleet
   - Simple: The -ing form of fleet. Use it after am, is, are, was or were, or to name the action.

## Noun

3. An automatic mode on an absolute signal that holds a route open for several following trains, so the dispatcher need not reset it for each one. *(US)*
   - Simple: A signal setting that holds a route open for several trains in a row, without resetting it each time.
   - _Operators rely on fleeting to move closely spaced trains through busy junctions efficiently._
   - _Once fleeting was set, each following train received a clear signal automatically._

## Origin

From Middle English fleten ("to float"), from Old English flēotan ("to float"), going back to Proto-Germanic *fleutaną and Proto-Indo-European *plewd-. It can also be seen as fleet + -ing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fleeting (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).