# temporary

Pronunciation: US say "TEM-puh-rair-ee" /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/; UK say "TEM-puh-ruh-ree" /ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/

## Adjective

1. Lasting only for a period or periods of time, rather than permanently.
   - Simple: Lasting for only a limited time, not forever.
   - _The city set up temporary shelters for families displaced by the flood._
   - _Her appointment to the board is temporary, lasting only until the next election._
2. Existing only for a short time or short times; brief and quickly passing.
   - Simple: Lasting for only a very short time.
   - _The medication brought temporary relief that faded within the hour._
   - _Spring blossoms are temporary, lasting only a week before they fall._

## Noun

3. A worker employed for a limited time, especially someone filling a short-term office role.
   - Simple: A worker hired to do a job for only a short time.
   - _The agency sent over a temporary to handle the holiday rush._
   - _Several temporaries were brought in to process the backlog of claims._
4. A short-lived variable that holds an intermediate result during a computation.
   - Simple: A spot in a program that holds a number or value for a short time while the work is being done.
   - _The compiler creates a temporary to hold the intermediate sum before assigning it._
   - _Swapping two values often requires a temporary to avoid losing data._

## Origin

Borrowed from Latin temporarius, which comes from tempus, meaning "time."

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