fugitive
23
7.4
- adjective
- /ˈfjuːdʒɪtɪv/
:
fugaz
- Fugitive dust emissions and possible paint drift became the remaining concerns for the project.
- fugitive emissions
- fugitive dust
While some find Fred's work difficult to understand, as a poet, I am wholeheartedly in favor of Fred's fugitive style.
- While some find Fred's work difficult to understand, as a poet, I am wholeheartedly in favor of Fred's fugitive style.
Examples
-
Not everyone wishes to marginalize Mary's revelation as something at once too huge and too fugitive to contemplate.
Fiction book (2001) -
So vivid then, it receded, leaving only fugitive souvenirs and a few friendships.
Fiction book (1999) -
Grasping the shape of a mass public, though, is a more fugitive process.
Blog text (15) -
"Is there any rational reason, my lad, for keeping these fugitive periodicals about?"
Fiction book (1998) -
Its fugitive pieces lay scattered, partly in typescript, partly in his own handwriting.
Academic text (1991) -
The beauty of a sunset is often fugitive, fading quickly as night falls.
-
Most good ideas are fugitive, disappearing before you can write them down.
-
Her memories of that summer vacation felt fugitive, slipping away with each passing year.
Synonyms
66
6.3
Lasting only a short time
44
4.8
Lasting only a very short time
Lasting for a very short time
Antonyms
Compounds
How Fleeting
Surface Forms
Morphology
fugitive = flee (semi-transparent) = fugit + ive
The adjectival sense 'fleeting' is related to 'flee' conceptually, but the stem is not a transparent modern English form, so the relation may not be obvious to learners.
Etymology
Fugitive as an adjective comes from the same root fug- meaning 'to flee', so it describes things that 'run away' quickly — short, passing moments or feelings.