impermanent

/ɪmˈpʌrmənənt/

Other forms: impermanently

Impermanent describes something that's temporary, like a bad poison ivy rash, a one-day sale at your favorite store, or a message written in the sky by an airplane.

The adjective impermanent is useful for talking about things that are fleeting or transitory; bubbles, the summer, a baby's cute lisp, and a wonderful dream are all impermanent. Many religions, especially Buddhism, emphasize the impermanent nature of everything in life, and the inevitability of change. The word at the root of impermanent is permanent, from the Latin permanere, "endure, continue, or stay to the end."

Definitions of impermanent

1. adjective

   not permanent; not lasting
   “"politics is an impermanent factor of life"- James Thurber”

   “impermanent palm cottages”

   synonyms: temporary

   acting

   serving temporarily especially as a substitute

   ephemeral, fugacious, passing, short-lived, transient, transitory

   lasting a very short time

   episodic

   limited in duration to a single episode

   evanescent

   tending to vanish like vapor

   fly-by-night

   ephemeral

   improvised, jury-rigged, makeshift

   done or made using whatever is available

   interim

   serving during an intermediate interval of time

   pro tem, pro tempore

   for the time being

   shipboard

   casual or ephemeral as if taking place on board a ship

   temporal

   not eternal

   terminable

   capable of being terminated after a designated time

   working

   adopted as a temporary basis for further work

   unstable

   lacking stability or fixity or firmness

   antonyms:

   permanent

   continuing or enduring without marked change in status or condition or place

   unchangeable

   not changeable or subject to change

   ineradicable

   not able to be destroyed or rooted out

   abiding, enduring, imperishable

   unceasing

   aeonian, ageless, eonian, eternal, everlasting, perpetual, unceasing, unending

   continuing forever or indefinitely

   indissoluble

   used of decisions and contracts

   standing

   not created for a particular occasion

   stable

   resistant to change of position or condition
2. adjective

   existing or enduring for a limited time only
   synonyms:

   finite

   bounded or limited in magnitude or spatial or temporal extent