fugaciousadj.
/fjuːˈɡeɪʃəs/, U.S. /fjuˈɡeɪʃəs/ 1. Apt to flee away or flit.
a. Of immaterial things: Tending to disappear, of short duration; evanescent, fleeting, transient, fugitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective]
slidinga900
scrithingOE
henwardOE
swifta1225
short livya1325
passing1340
flittingc1374
shadowy1374
temporalc1384
speedfula1400
transitory?c1400
brittlea1425
unabidingc1430
frail?c1450
indurablec1450
scrithel?c1475
caduke1483
transitorious1492
passanta1500
perishinga1500
caducea1513
fugitive?1518
caducal?1548
quick1548
delible1549
flittering1549
undurable?1555
shadowish1561
fleeting1563
vading1566
flightful1571
wanzing1571
transitive1575
slipping1581
diary1583
unlasting1585
never-lasting1588
flit1590
post-like1594
running1598
short-lived1598
short-winded1598
transient1599
unpermanent1607
flashy1609
of a day1612
passable1613
dureless1614
urgenta1616
waxena1616
decayable1617
horary1620
evanid1626
fugitable1628
short-dated1632
fugacious1635
ephemerala1639
impermanent1653
fungous1655
volatile1655
ephemerousa1660
unimmortal1667
timesome1674
while-being1674
of passage1680
journal1685
ephemeron1714
admovent1727
evanescent1728
meteorous1750
deciduous1763
preterient1786
ephemeridal1795
meteorica1802
meteor1803
ephemerean1804
ephemerid1804
evanescing1805
fleeted1810
fleet1812
unenduring1814
unremaining1817
unimmortalized1839
impersistent1849
flighty1850
uneternal1862
caducous1863
diurnal1866
horarious1866
brisk1879
evasive1881
picaresque1959
1635 E. Rainbow Labour sig. Aij Fugatious words, which escape the eares pursuit.
a1677 I. Barrow Of Contentm. (1685) 71 A thing most fugacious and slippery.
1722 W. Wollaston Relig. of Nature ix. 206 With at best only a few deceitful, little, fugacious pleasures interspersed.
1781 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry III. xli. 433 I owe this information to the manuscript papers of a diligent collector of these fugacious anecdotes.
1817 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 44 234 There is in the affection of poetic readers a something very fugacious.
1855 H. Martineau Autobiogr. (1877) II. 226 The fugacious nature of life and time.
1865 J. S. Mill Exam. Hamilton's Philos. 203 Colours, tastes, smells..being, in comparison, fugacious.
b. Of persons: †Ready to run away. Also humorously (of persons), fleeing; (of things) slippery. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > [adjective] > running away > given to
fugitivea1616
fugacious1651
the world > matter > constitution of matter > oiliness or greasiness > [adjective] > of the nature of oil > oily and slippery
sliddera1000
slippera1050
fugitivec1485
slippery1551
lubricous1659
soapy1732
saponaceous1837
lubricate1848
fugacious1872
1651 J. F. tr. H. C. Agrippa Three Bks. Occult Philos. Ep. 557 The most fugatious of all the Gods.
1872 W. D. Howells Their Wedding Journey 81 The oily slices of fugacious potatoes slipping about in the dish.
1885 Harper's Mag. Feb. 367/1 Aunt..chuckled away to herself at the retrospect of her own fugacious figure.
c. Of a material substance: Volatile.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > becoming or making into gas > [adjective] > connected with or producing vaporization > able to be vaporized > volatile
flying1471
spirituala1500
volatile1605
fugitive1666
fugacious1671
volitablea1690
incoercible1710
1671 J. Webster Metallographia viii. 126 This primum ens..is a fugacious spirit.
1684 tr. T. Bonet Guide Pract. Physician vi. 198 The fugacious poison departs as the Serum breaks out.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. I. x. 425 No one..has analyzed the fugacious element of air with more success.
1823 Mechanic's Mag. No. 10. 160 From the highly fugacious nature of that part of coffee on which its fine flavour depends.
2. Botany and Zoology. Falling or fading early; soon cast off. Cf. caducous adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > growth, movement, or curvature of parts > [adjective] > permanent or discarded
shedc1430
deciduous1657
marcescent1727
fugacious1750
permanent1776
shrivelling1776
persisting1777
persistent1785
sphacelate1785
shedding1796
sphacelated1806
caducous1808
restant1828
fugitive1830
horarious1866
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados 35 An immoderate use of crude fugacious fruits..will likewise occasion a Diarrhœa.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 288 Curtain white, delicate, fugacious, hanging in fragments at the edge of the pileus.
1798 C. Marshall Introd. Knowl. & Pract. Gardening (ed. 2) ii. 16 Seed..may be extremely fugacious by its slight adhesion to the plant.
1874 M. C. Cooke Fungi (1875) 18 In some Agarics the ring is very fugacious or absent altogether.
?1877 F. E. Hulme Familiar Wild Flowers I. Summary p. xiv Petals..very fugacious.
Derivatives
fuˈgaciously adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > becoming or making into gas > [adverb] > in a volatile manner
fugaciously1811
1811 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory (1830) 1011 Sulphuretted hydrogen is known to be contained in water..by its reddening the infusion of litmus fugaciously.
fuˈgaciousness n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [noun] > transience
frailnessa1300
timelinessa1500
transitoriness1550
fleeting1616
temporality1635
wanzingness1642
transiency1647
impermanency1648
undurableness1648
transientness1653
fugacity1656
evanidness1659
fugaciousness1664
timeishness1674
timesomeness1674
volatilenessa1676
fleetingness1709
deciduousness1727
fleetness1727
momentaneousness1727
preterience1730
transience1739
evanescence1751
unpermanency1751
transitiveness1775
caducity1793
impermanence1796
ephemerality1822
passingness1839
transitionalness1880
anitya1882
diariness1891
anicca1904
ephemeralness1911
the world > matter > gas > becoming or making into gas > [noun] > becoming or making into vapour > ability to become vapour > volatility
volatility1626
fugacity1656
fugitivenessa1661
volatilenessa1676
fugaciousness1875
1664 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense Introd. 56 in Sylva Well therefore did..Columella put his Gard'ner in mind of the fugaciousness of the Seasons.
1821 New Monthly Mag. 1 160 The utter inanity and fugaciousness of all mortal grandeur.
1875 H. C. Wood Treat. Therapeutics (1879) 116 The volatility of ammonia and the extreme fugaciousness of its action.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1635