adj. 1
Remaining for only a brief time.
a transient view of a landscape
n. 1
A person who passes through a place for a short time; a traveller; a migrant worker.

Related words

Word family: transience transiency transiently transientness transitoriness
Phrases: transient ischemic attack

Forms

Plural: transients → itinerants, migrants, travelers, homelesses…

Choose the right word

Transient, Transitory or Temporary?

Transient and transitory are both derived from the same original source (L. A thing is transient which in fact is not lasting; a thing is transitory which by its very nature must soon pass away; a thing is temporary (L.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

temporary The banker's pay cut was temporary, not permanent.
fleeting At the age of 84, I dreamed about a fleeting love.
ephemeral Love's pleasure is ephemeral; regret eternal.
nomadic Nomadic peoples follow the water and grazing land.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
transient		steady
temporary		falling
fleeting		rising
ephemeral		rising
transitory		falling
nomadic		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

5 letters: short¹, brief¹
6 letters: flying², mortal²
7 letters: passing², instant², migrant², nomadic³, mutable³, flighty²
8 letters: homeless², volatile³, temporal³, traveler³, fugitive³, fleeting², flitting²
9 letters: temporary⁴, traveller³, momentary⁴, ephemeral⁴, itinerant⁴, fugacious, transeunt
10 letters: perishable⁴, transitive, transitory⁴
11 letters: impermanent

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (flying² = 2 syllables).