transitory Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite lasting a very short time
    short-lived; ephemeral; transient; fugacious; passing.
    • the ephemeral joys of childhood
    • a passing fancy
    • youth's transient beauty
    • love is transitory but it is eternal
    • fugacious blossoms

WordNet

Tran"si*to*ry adjective
Etymology
L. transitorius: cf. F. transitoire. See Transient.
Definitions
  1. Continuing only for a short time; not enduring; fleeting; evanescent.
    Comfort and succor all those who, in this transitory life, are in trouble. Bk. of Com. Prayer.
    It was not the transitory light of a comet, which shines and glows for a wile, and then . . . vanishes into nothing. South.
    Blackstone. Bouvier. Syn. -- transient; short-lived; brief. See Transient.

Webster 1913