short-lived

English

Etymology

From short + life + -ed.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /ʃɔɹtˈlaɪvd/, /ʃɔɹtˈlɪvd/; see usage notes below

Adjective

short-lived (comparative shorter-lived, superlative shortest-lived)

1. Alive or existent for only a short period of time.

   But his joy was short-lived, for his fortunes soon changed.

Usage notes

• The pronunciation /ʃɔɹtˈlaɪvd/ (the second syllable rhyming with hived) is more consistent with the etymology (since the term comes from the noun life rather than the verb live), and was formerly more common; however, the pronunciation /ʃɔɹtˈlɪvd/ (the second syllable pronounced as the verb lived) is more common today.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:ephemeral

Related terms

• brief
• fleeting
• momentary

Translations

not existent for a long time

• Finnish: lyhytikäinen, lyhytkestoinen
• German: kurzlebig (de)

• Serbo-Croatian: krȁtkotrājan (sh)
• Swedish: kortlivad (sv), kortvarig (sv)