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Breaking Down Evanescent
The fragile, airy quality of evanescent things reflects the etymology of the word evanescent itself. It’s from a form of the Latin verb evanescere, which means "to evaporate" or "to vanish.” (Evanescere is also the ultimate source of vanish.) Given the similarity in spelling between the two words, you might expect evaporate to be from this family as well, but its source is another steamy Latin root, evaporare.
Synonyms
Examples of evanescent in a Sentence
beauty that is as evanescent as a rainbow
Recent Examples on the Web
Sketches and blackouts are often evanescent, like an idea sketched on a cocktail napkin; some last only a few seconds yet might have been fiendishly complicated to prepare and execute.
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Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2023
Or something perhaps deeper and more difficult but not quite so evanescent? Attendance declines have made this question more urgent.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2023
More often, though, the new songs are evanescent.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Nov. 2022
Consumatory scholarship has much more individualized and evanescent outcomes.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 June 2012
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Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2023
Or something perhaps deeper and more difficult but not quite so evanescent? Attendance declines have made this question more urgent.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2023
More often, though, the new songs are evanescent.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Nov. 2022
Consumatory scholarship has much more individualized and evanescent outcomes.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 June 2012
See all Example Sentences for evanescent
Dictionary Entries Near evanescent
Cite this Entry
“Evanescent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evanescent. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
evanescent
adjective
ev·a·nes·cent
ˌev-ə-ˈnes-ᵊnt 
: tending to vanish like vapor : not lasting
evanescent pleasures
Medical Definition
evanescent
adjective
ev·a·nes·cent
ˌev-ə-ˈnes-ᵊnt
: tending to disappear quickly : of relatively short duration
an evanescent rash
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