transient

From stem of Latin transiens, present participle of transire (“to go over, to pass”)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

transient (comparative more transient, superlative most transient)

1. Passing or disappearing with time; transitory.

   a transient pleasure

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     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.

• (passing): passing, transitory, temporary
• (brief): brief, ephemeral, fleeting, flighty, fugacious

• (passing): permanent
• (brief): permanent, inveterate
• (mathematics): recurrent
• (philosophy): immanent

• transience
• transiently
• transientness

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

• (4) traveller: itinerant, migrant, traveller
• (5) homeless: homeless

• instanter, intranets