transient
Adjective

transient

  1. Passing or disappearing with time; transitory.
    a transient pleasure
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book 10”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:
      this transient world
  2. Remaining for only a brief time.
    a transient view of a landscape
    a transient disease
  3. (physics) Decaying with time, especially exponentially.
  4. (mathematics, stochastic processes, of a state) having a positive probability of being left and never being visited again.
  5. Occasional; isolated; one-off
  6. Passing through; passing from one person to another.
  7. (music) Intermediate.
  8. (philosophy) Operating beyond itself; having an external effect.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

transient (plural transients)

  1. Something which is transient.
  2. (physics) A transient phenomenon, especially an electric current; a very brief surge.
  3. (acoustics) A relatively loud, non-repeating signal in an audio waveform which occurs very quickly, such as the attack of a snare drum.
  4. A person who passes through a place for a short time; a traveller; a migrant worker
    • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 3
      Then, within the space of a few months, there were more transients than there were locals, and the imbalance seemed morally wrong.
  5. An unhoused person
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  • German: Einschwingungsvorgang
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