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fleeting

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Passing quickly; transient or impermanent—emphasizing ephemerality, a common theme in meditative or carpe diem poetry.

Detailed Definition
“Fleeting” emphasizes ephemerality—of time, beauty, or joy. In carpe diem and vanitas poetry, it urges action before loss. The adjective’s soft consonants mirror swift passage, suiting lyrical melancholy. Poets use it to contrast mortal fragility with eternal ideals, grounding philosophical reflection in sensory immediacy of vanishing moments.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Fleeting as shadows, our joys depart," a carpe diem line; In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 19: "Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws... / And do whate’er thou wilt, swift-footed Time"; "The fleeting hour demands our song"; Milton’s Lycidas: "Fame is the spur... but the clear spirit... scorns delights and lives laborious days"—acknowledging life’s fleetingness; "Fleeting clouds mirror fleeting lives"; All beauty is fleeting, save in verse.
Additional Notes
“Fleeting” emphasizes transience, central to memento mori and carpe diem themes; in lyric poetry, “fleeting time” or “fleeting beauty” urges action or lament, grounding metaphysical concerns in sensory impermanence.
Also Known As
transient passing momentary evanescent fugitive
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