ephemerality
1
8.9
- noun
- /ɪˌfɛm.əˈræl.ɪ.ti/
:
efimeridad
- Made mostly from vulnerable organic materials, many objects survive the test of time only when, as Hornbeck addresses below, their ephemerality is "stabilized," granting them an ongoing, aesthetic "afterlife" in the museum.
Examples
-
The ephemerality of a flower's bloom reminds us to appreciate its beauty while it lasts.
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The napkin poetry formed a metaphor for the ephemerality of the body itself and for the repurposing of material forms.
Academic text (2012) -
The Senate version of the bill made no such reference to its own ephemerality.
Academic text (2017) -
The collection showcases sound's ephemerality, the way sounds attack and diminish through time.
Academic text (2017) -
I would argue that it is the condition of the works' ephemerality that enables, or at least allows for, these "truth" tales to be spun.
Academic text (2010) -
With these objects, the ephemerality of the container allows for an unhindered, open, and free release of the activated energies.
Academic text (2009) -
The emphasis in Wordsworth's definition, however, is on fancy's playfulness and ephemerality.
Academic text (2017) -
Now, the awareness of ephemerality, which the love sonnets articulate as sobering remorse, is cause for mockery.
Academic text (2002) -
When used as a broom, its ephemerality is brought to the fore; it is a hardworking instrument, whose only reward for its labor is its own disintegration.
Academic text (2009) -
Though Dada objects are, of course, in museum collections and their performances documented on film, these collecting impulses ran contrary, in theory at least, to the ephemerality of Dada practices.
Academic text (2009)
Synonyms
4
8.2
A state of not lasting forever and likely to change
2
8.1
A short time before something changes or ends
1
9.6
A brief fading from sight or memory
1
8.2
A short time that passes quickly
1
3.5
A situation that lasts only for a short time
The state of lasting only a short time
A short time that something exists before it ends
A state of lasting only a short time and hard to hold
A short life for plant parts like petals that fall quickly
A temporary condition that does not last forever
A state of lasting only a short time
A situation that lasts only for a short time and may change
Antonyms
How Brief
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Ephemerality comes from the Greek word ephemeros, made of epi- 'upon' and hemera 'day'. Think of a flower that opens and dies in one day, and that image helps you remember that ephemerality means 'lasting for a very short time'.