transients
Short-term lodgers
Transients are things that pass through briefly without staying.
The word usually applies to people—travelers, drifters, or temporary residents who don't put down roots: The shelter serves transients passing through town.
In electronics and physics, transients are brief fluctuations or surges in current, voltage, or signals.
The adjective transient describes anything fleeting or short-lived: transient pleasures, a transient population.
Lasting very briefly
- fleetingPassing very quickly
- briefShort in duration
- evanescentTending to vanish quickly
- impermanentNot meant to last
passing · short-lived · vanishing · fading · fugacious · dissipating · ephemera · perishable
Sharp rise or point
- surgeSudden powerful increase
- glitchMinor system fault
- pulseArterial blood throb
- fluctuationIrregular change over time
oscillation · overvoltage · impulse · disturbance · interference · noise · ripple · blip
Aimless, rootless traveler
- vagabondHomeless, aimless wanderer
- vagrantHomeless itinerant person
- hoboItinerant without fixed address
- trampWandering homeless person
itinerant · wanderer · unhoused · squatter · rough sleeper · panhandler · street dweller · derelict
One who relocates
- nomadHomeless wanderer by choice
- wayfarerTraveler, especially walking
- roverDrifter or space explorer
- ramblerLeisurely rural hiker
journeyer · sojourner · pilgrim · voyager · globetrotter · backpacker · explorer · adventurer
Of limited duration
- provisionalConditional and possibly temporary
- interimProvisional in-between phase
- stopgapTemporary substitute measure
- makeshiftTemporary, improvised substitute
tentative · nonpermanent · transitional · precarious · visiting · passing through · guest · lodger
momentary
Lasting very briefly
- fleetingPassing very quickly
- briefShort in duration
- evanescentTending to vanish quickly
impermanent · passing · short-lived · vanishing · fading · fugacious · dissipating · ephemera · perishable · volatile
spike
Sharp rise or point
fluctuation · oscillation · overvoltage · impulse · disturbance · interference · noise · ripple · blip · anomaly
drifter
Aimless, rootless traveler
- vagabondHomeless, aimless wanderer
- vagrantHomeless itinerant person
- hoboItinerant without fixed address
tramp · itinerant · wanderer · unhoused · squatter · rough sleeper · panhandler · street dweller · derelict · displaced
migrant
One who relocates
rambler · journeyer · sojourner · pilgrim · voyager · globetrotter · backpacker · explorer · adventurer · trekker
short-term
Of limited duration
- provisionalConditional and possibly temporary
- interimProvisional in-between phase
- stopgapTemporary substitute measure
makeshift · tentative · nonpermanent · transitional · precarious · visiting · passing through · guest · lodger · boarder
- migrantsmigrants, arctic tern, monarch butterfly, caribou, humpback whale
- residentsresident, residents, inhabitants, inhabitant, local
- travelerspassenger, travelers, traveler, tourist, vacationers
- boardinghouseboarder, boarders, lodger, lodgers, roomer
- underclasspoor, pauper, peasant, homeless, serf
- circuit phenomenaimpedance, reactance, capacitance, inductance, resistance
transientspermanent residents
People living somewhere long-term
residents · settlers · locals · long-term residents · permanents
transientspillars of the community
Respected, influential local figures
homebodies · fixtures · stalwarts · landed gentry · stakeholders
- transient populationShort-term inhabitants of area