evanescent

Adjective

evanescent (comparative more evanescent, superlative most evanescent)

1. Disappearing, vanishing.
   • He cannot ſuppreſs his diſapprobation […] of thoſe evaneſcent echoes of ſchool philoſophy, faint-warbling through the grove of letters, to the injury of natural and ſcientific knowledge, and the annoyance of English literature.1779 January, “Minutes of Agriculture, Made on a Farm of 300 Acres, of Various Soils, near Croydon, Surry. […] By Mr. [William Humphrey] Marshall. 4to. 12s. boards. Dodsley. [book review]”, in The...
   • The sea was each little bird's great playmate. […] In their airy flutterings, they seemed to rest on the evanescent spray.1842, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Foot-prints on the Sea-shore”, in Twice-Told Tales, volume II, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 314

   Antonyms:

   nonevanescent

   1. Of an oscillating electric or magnetic field: not propagating as an electromagnetic wave but having its energy spatially concentrated in the vicinity of its source.
      • Consequently, the electromagnetic fields have plane-wave characteristics in local regions, except immediately adjacent to a caustic where there is a rapid transition from the wavelike behavior of the local plane-wave fields to the evanescent behavior beyond the ray path.1983, Allan W[hitenack] Snyder, John D[avid] Love, “Rays and Local Plane Waves”, in Optical Waveguide Theory (Science Paperbacks; 190), London; New York, N.Y.: Chapman & Hall, →ISBN; republished...
      • The analyte directly affects the optical properties of a waveguide, such as evanescent waves (electromagnetic waves generated in the medium outside the optical waveguide when light is reflected from within) or surface plasmons (resonances induced by an evanescent wave in a thin film deposited on a...2015, Yitzhak Mendelson, “Optical Sensors”, in Joseph D. Bronzino, Donald R. Peterson, editors, Medical Devices and Human Engineering (Biomedical Engineering Handbook; 2), 4th edition, Boca Raton...
   2. Of a number or value: diminishing to the point of reaching zero as a limit; infinitesimal.
      • […] I choſe rather to reduce the demonſtrations of the following propoſitions to the firſt and laſt ſums and ratio's of naſcent and evaneſcent quantities, that is, to the limits of thoſe ſums and ratio's; […] Perhaps it may be objected, that there is no ultimate proportion of evaneſcent quantities...1729, Isaac Newton, “Section I. Of the Method of First and Last Ratio’s of Quantities, by the Help whereof We Demonstrate the Propositions that Follow.”, in Andrew Motte, transl., The Mathematical...
      • And what are theſe Fluxions? The Velocities of evaneſcent Increments? And what are theſe ſame evaneſcent Increments? They are neither finite Quantities, nor Quantities infinitely ſmall, nor yet nothing. May we not call them the Ghoſts of departed Quantities?1734, [George Berkeley], The Analyst; or, A Discourse Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician. […], London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, section XXXV, page 59
2. Barely there; almost imperceptible.
   • If the Fluids moving in an Evaneſcent Artery [i.e., a capillary] appear Globular, I ſuppose its becauſe the Canal is round, which alters the Caſe much.1709 August 21, Archibald Adams, “IV. A Letter from Dr. Archibald Adams to Dr. Hans Sloane, R[oyal] S[ociety] Secr[etary], Concerning the Manner of Making Microscopes, &c. Norwich, August 11, 1709...
   • Here are Sholes and Sholes, of various Characters, and of the moſt diverſified Sizes; from the gigantic Whale, whoſe flouncings "tempeſt the Ocean," to the evaneſcent Anchovy, whoſe Subſtance diſſolves in the ſmalleſt Fircaſſee.1767, James Hervey, “Letter IX. Theron to Aspasio.”, in Theron and Aspasio: Or, A Series of Dialogues and Letters, upon the Most Important and Interesting Subjects. In Three Volumes, 5th edition...
3. Ephemeral, fleeting, momentary.
   • It is to be obſerved, farther, that when we annihilate any thing in our Mind, we conſider it as ſomething evaneſcent, and removed out of Sight; […]1732, William King, “Containing Some Principles Previously Necessary to the Understanding and Solution of the Difficulty about the Origin of Evil”, in Edmund Law, transl., An Essay on the Origin of...
   • But alas! how momentary was the bliss!—the evaneſcent viſion ſoon fled, and the youthful queen [Mary, Queen of Scots] was arrayed in the melancholy garb of widowhood!1798 February, “Constantia” [pseudonym; Judith Sargent Murray], “No. XLVII”, in The Gleaner. A Miscellaneous Production. In Three Volumes, volume II, printed at Boston, Mass.: By I. Thomas and E. T....

   Antonyms:

   nonevanescent, earthly, ephemeral, brief, deciduous, fleeting, flying, fugacious, fugitive, instant

   1. Of plant parts: shed after a period.
      • Upward it [the "apennine adonis", probably the Pyrenean pheasant's eye (Adonis pyrenaica)] is of a pale green, with ſome Tinge of yellowiſh; and it is all the Way duſted with little grey tranſparent Globules. Theſe are the Extremities of ſo many round evaneſcent ſecretory Ducts; as the Hairs of...1757 February, [John Hill; Thomas Hale], “Curious Plants and Flowers Now in Their Perfection”, in Eden: or, A Compleat Body of Gardening. […], number XXII, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, […]...
      • Per[ianth]. Berry from the receptacle elongated into a cup globular, ſucculent, gaging at the top, colour'd, at length waſting from dryneſs, evaneſcent.1787, [Carl Linnaeus; Carl Linnaeus the younger], “1135. Taxus. * Tournes. 362. Yew.”, in The Families of Plants, with Their Natural Characters, According to the Number, Figure, Situation, and...