fugacious
Gone before long
Fugacious means fleeting or quick to fade.
The word appears primarily in botanical contexts, describing plant parts that wither or fall off early: fugacious petals, fugacious stipules.
In literary use, it describes anything transient: the fugacious joys of youth.
The word is rare and formal, more likely encountered in scientific writing than everyday speech.
Passing very quickly
- transientTemporary, soon departing
- ephemeralLasting very briefly
- momentaryLasting very briefly
- evanescentTending to vanish quickly
short-lived · passing · brief · temporary · impermanent · transitory · instantaneous · quick
Gradual loss of intensity
- vanishingCeasing to be visible
- disappearingCeasing to be visible
- dissipatingScattering and fading out
- witheringDrying and declining
wilting · melting · evaporating · dissolving · perishing · dying · declining · diminishing
Sheds foliage seasonally
Quality of not lasting
- transienceBrevity of existence
- mortalityState of eventual death
- ephemeralityCondition of being brief
- mutabilityCapacity for alteration
finitude · temporality · fleetingness · evanescence · brevity · fragility
fleeting
Passing very quickly
evanescent · short-lived · passing · brief · temporary · impermanent · transitory · instantaneous · quick · sudden
fading
Gradual loss of intensity
- vanishingCeasing to be visible
- disappearingCeasing to be visible
- dissipatingScattering and fading out
withering · wilting · melting · evaporating · dissolving · perishing · dying · declining · diminishing · dwindling
deciduous
Sheds foliage seasonally
impermanence
Quality of not lasting
- transienceBrevity of existence
- mortalityState of eventual death
- ephemeralityCondition of being brief
mutability · finitude · temporality · fleetingness · evanescence · brevity · fragility