impermanentadj.
/(ˌ)ɪmˈpəːmənənt/, U.S. /ᵻmˈpərmənənt/ Not permanent or lasting; transient, fleeting; temporary.
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
1653 H. More Conjectura Cabbalistica 183 Adam is here condemned to a mortal, flitting and impermanent state, till he reach his Æthereal or pure fiery Vehicle.
1700 G. Monro Just Meas. Pious Inst. Youth i. i. 161 They..represent..possessions as things infinitly unworthy of their desires;..because they are momentany, and impermanent.
?1754 Mock Monarchs II. v. 74 The Scarlet Ribbons,..at every Toss of the Head, dispersed impermanent Shades over her whole Countenance.
1821 Examiner 13 May 303/1 Take the selection away from a permanent Crown Office and allow it to an impermanent one—the Sheriff, for instance.
1883 W. D. Howells Woman's Reason (new ed.) I. 28 The sense of our impermanent relation to the parental roof comes to us very early in life.
1928 Rotarian June 33/3 War-time alignments are impermanent and shifting.
2008 Yoga Jrnl. Feb. 160/2 Life is impermanent. Turn the mind from daily life to see how fleeting it is.
Derivatives
imˈpermanently adv.
ΚΠ
1855 A. J. Davis Great Harmonia IV. xv. 367 We behold our youth..prematurely ripened and impermanently endowed.
1960 Trans. & Papers Inst. Brit. Geographers No. 28 143 The reasons for the failure of the trade to take root in St. Helens, except weakly and impermanently, are more obscure.
2004 Financial Times 24 Feb. (Nigeria section) 8/1 Mr Nwagbo talks about the surrounding community that is built impermanently in the shadow of the city's Victoria Island..business district.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1653