transient

Pluraltransients

1. 1
   adjective

   Lasting or happening for only a short time, or only now and then, and then going away.

   The good feeling was transient and soon faded.

   Snow is transient here, and it is usually gone by noon.

   Similartemporary, brief, fleeting, short-lived, passing

   Oppositepermanent, lasting, persistent, enduring

   Note
2. 2
   staying brieflyadjective

   Moving through a place, or going from one person to another.

   The town gets many transient visitors in the summer.

   Transient birds stop at the pond for a few days each spring.

   Similarpassing, temporary

   Oppositepermanent, resident

3. 3
   nouncountable

   Something that lasts only a short time, especially a sudden, brief jump in electric current.

   A transient from the storm burned out our TV.

   This box protects the computer from power transients.

   Similarsurge, spike

   Note
4. 4
   homeless personnouncountable

   A person who has no home.

   A transient asked us for spare change outside the store.

   The church serves hot meals to transients every Sunday.

   UsageMany people prefer to say homeless person.

   Similarvagrant, drifter, tramp

5. 5
   sound burstnouncountable

   In sound, a very quick, loud burst that does not repeat, like the hit of a drum.

   Each drum hit makes a sharp transient in the sound wave.

   Turning down the transients made the drums sound softer.

   Note
6. 6
   nouncountable

   A person who stays in a place for only a short time, like a traveler or someone who moves around for work.

   The hotel is full of transients during the summer.

   He was a transient, working on one farm and then the next.

   Similarmigrant, drifter, itinerant, traveler

   Oppositeresident, local

   Note
7. 7
   fading (physics)adjective

   In physics, getting smaller over time until it fades away.

   Our physics teacher showed how the transient current gets weaker by half each second.

   The swinging settles down once the transient motion dies away.

   Oppositesteady

   Note

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