Sample sentences for TRANSITORY

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Definition

lasting a short time

Do not be concerned about mild, transitory symptoms.

transitory = lasting a short time

The goal of this emergency organization is to keep a transitory problem from turning into one that is permanent.

transitory = lasting a short time

Physical beauty is passing. A transitory possession.
Tennessee Williams -- A Streetcar Named Desire

transitory = lasting a short time

He was one of the few people who was acutely conscious of the transitoriness of life, and how necessary it was to make the most of it.
W. Somerset Maugham -- Of Human Bondage

transitoriness = shortness

(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)

This is why Plato finds it necessary to separate, for example, "horseness" from "horse" and say that horseness is real and fixed and true and unmoving, while the horse is a mere, unimportant, transitory phenomenon.
Robert M. Pirsig -- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

transitory = lasting a short time

The church's strength was its tradition, not its transience. The whole world was transitory.
Dan Brown -- Angels & Demons

transitory = lasting a short time

This part of my life, strange and transitory, was almost over.
Sarah Dessen -- Along for the Ride

transitory = lasting a short time

His goodness must not be a partial and transitory act, but a constant
Henry David Thoreau -- Walden

transitory = temporary (lasting a short time)

the human body as transitory and fragile and, by contrast, the soul as enduring.
Jay Allison, et al. -- This I Believe

transitory = lasting a short time

Scientists have always ignored national boundaries, holding themselves above the transitory concerns of politics and even wars.
Michael Crichton -- Jurassic Park

transitory = lasting a short time

He had a transitory idea of jumping into the tram and slamming the doors,
H.G. Wells -- The Invisible Man

transitory = lasting a short time

These feelings are transitory;
Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein

transitory = lasting a short time

For a transitory moment, I think I detect a tiny crack of light in his eyes.
Khaled Hosseini -- And The Mountains Echoed

transitory = lasting a short time

Others are more... transitory.
Stephenie Meyer -- New Moon

transitory = temporary (lasting a short time)

Is it the individual of whom I had formerly—hum—some—ha—slight transitory knowledge, and to whom I believe you have referred?
Charles Dickens -- Little Dorrit

transitory = lasting a short time

I did not then know that it was no transitory blossom, but rather the radiant resemblance of one, cut in an indestructible gem.
Charlotte Bronte -- Jane Eyre

transitory = lasting a short time

this is a kind of beauty even more transitory than most,
C.S. Lewis -- The Screwtape Letters

transitory = short-lived (lasting a short time)

my dear and tender wife was forced to submit to the irresistible power of Death, leaving this transitory life for a better.
Daniel Defoe -- Robinson Crusoe

transitory = lasting a short time

So why should the transitory customs of one local culture affect the decision so much?
Stephenie Meyer -- Eclipse

transitory = temporary (lasting a short time)

Many a night he vaguely and unhappily wandered there, when wine had brought no transitory gladness to him;
Charles Dickens -- A Tale of Two Cities

transitory = lasting a short time

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