adjective · academic
ephemeral
UK/ɪˈfemərəl/US/ɪˈfɛmərəl/e·PHE·mer·al
lasting for a very short time
Examples
“Street art is often ephemeral, wiped away or painted over within days.”
“Many contemporary artists embrace ephemeral materials to challenge traditional ideas of value.”
“The exhibition featured ephemeral installations designed to decay over the course of the festival.”
Band 8 sentence
“Many performance artists deliberately produce ephemeral work to question museums' obsession with permanence.”
Collocations
- ephemeral beauty
- ephemeral installation
- ephemeral trend
Word family
Common mistakes
The exhibition was ephemeralness.→The exhibition was ephemeral.
This art is temporaryed.→This art is temporary.
Say it for a higher band
5short‑lived→6temporary→7+ephemeral
Synonyms
transient
fleeting
Easily confused
temporary
“The temporary exhibition will be open for three weeks.”
Related words
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In Art & Culture
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