fugacious

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 17, 2024 is:

fugacious • \fyoo-GAY-shus\ • adjective

Fugacious is a formal word that describes something that lasts only a short time.

// The rock band’s early success proved fugacious; within two years its members had moved on to other careers.

// Savor the enduring pleasures of life as intensely as the fugacious ones.

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Examples:

“The Handel & Hendrix [House], on 23 and 25 Brook Street in central London, reopens 18 May.... The 18th century German composer George Frideric Handel called number 25 home for some 36 years, up until his death in 1759. Here, he manufactured hits like coronation/Champions League belter Zadok the Priest, and the Music for the Royal Fireworks with such voraciousness, his manuscripts were often bespattered with food and beer stains. Perhaps you'd equate such sloppiness with Jimi Hendrix; his tenancy in a flat at 23 Brook Street was altogether fugacious; he was only here from 1968-9—though in that time, used it for countless interviews, jam sessions—and referred to it as the only place he ever lived that felt like home.” — Will Noble, The Londonist, 18 May 2023

Did you know?

The word fugacious is too rare and unusual to qualify as vanilla, but the vanilla plant itself can be useful for recalling its meaning. Fugacious (which comes from Latin fugax, meaning “swift, fleeting,” and ultimately from fugere, “to run away”) describes the ephemeral—that is, those things in life that last only a brief time before fleeing or fading away. The word is often used to describe immaterial things, such as emotions, but botanists like to apply the word to plant parts (such as seeds, fruits, petals, and leaflets) that are quickly shed or dropped. Vanilla plants, for example, are said to have fugacious blossoms, as their flowers last only a single day during the blooming season. You may remember this the next time you’re baking with vanilla, and perhaps wishing that its rich, fugacious aroma would linger just a little bit longer.