evanescence

Meaning

1. 1noununcountableliteraryformal

   The quality of lasting only a very short time before fading away or vanishing, like mist or a passing mood.

   Grammar: Uncountable and usually followed by of: the evanescence of fame.

   Patterns

   • the evanescence of something

   The poem reflects on the evanescence of youth and beauty.

   The evanescence of morning mist is what makes the lake so magical.

   Photographers try to capture the evanescence of a rainbow before it disappears.

Common combinations

the evanescence of

She wrote about the evanescence of happiness.

fleeting evanescence

There is a fleeting evanescence about the blossoms in spring.

evanescence of fame

The film star lamented the evanescence of fame.

sense of evanescence

The painting gives a sense of evanescence, as if the scene might vanish.

evanescence of memory

He was haunted by the evanescence of memory.

Synonyms and how they differ

transience

Transience is the common, plain word for something that does not last, and it is a bit less poetic than evanescence.

impermanence

Impermanence is neutral and philosophical, and is often used in Buddhist or academic contexts.

ephemerality

Ephemerality stresses lasting only a day or very short time, and sounds slightly more scientific.

fleetingness

Fleetingness is plain and ordinary, and does not have the literary tone of evanescence.

Opposites

Word family

evanescent adjective

quickly fading or disappearing

evanesce verb

a rare word meaning to fade away

evanescently adverb

in a fleeting or vanishing way

Commonly confused: evanescence or effervescence?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “evanescence”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words