Definition of "transient"

transient

/ˈtɹan.zi.ənt/

adjective
comparative more transient, superlative most transient
1. Passing or disappearing with time; transitory.
  Quotations
  this transient world
  1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
  Or doth she only seem to take⁠The touch of change in calm or storm;⁠But knows no more of transient formIn her deep self, than some dead lakeThat holds the shadow of a lark⁠Hung in the shadow of a heaven?
  1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], canto XVI, page 26
2. Remaining for only a brief time.
  Quotations
  Taking advantage of the surprise, which assured him at least transient attention, he continued, addressing himself particularly to Evelyn.
  1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 27
3. (physics) Decaying with time, especially exponentially.
4. (mathematics, stochastic processes, of a state) having a positive probability of being left and never being visited again.
5. Occasional; isolated; one-off
6. Passing through; passing from one person to another.
7. (music) Intermediate.
8. (philosophy) Operating beyond itself; having an external effect.
noun
plural transients
1. Something that is transient.
2. (physics) A transient phenomenon, especially an electric current; a very brief surge.
3. (acoustics) A relatively loud, non-repeating signal in an audio waveform that occurs very quickly, such as the attack of a snare drum.
4. A person who passes through a place for a short time; a traveller; a migrant worker.
  Quotations
  Then, within the space of a few months, there were more transients than there were locals, and the imbalance seemed morally wrong.
  1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 3
5. A homeless person.
6. (programming) A module that generally remains in memory only for a short time.
  Quotations
  The overhead in loading transients is a big time-waster.
  1978, Computerworld, volume 12, number 25, page 26
  These areas function to single thread supervisor routines that are loaded as needed. The Logical Transient Area (LTA) processes $$B transients.
  1990, Gary A. Stotts, DOS/VSE: Introduction to the Operating System, page 102
  Like with setting and getting transients, WordPress packages a delete_transient() function for deleting a transient from the database.
  2020, Brad Williams, Justin Tadlock, John James Jacoby, Professional WordPress Plugin Development, page 102
7. (Philippines) A homestay.

Definition of "transient"

transient

adjective

Quotations

Quotations

noun

Quotations

Quotations