temporary

English

Alternative forms

• tempory (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin temporarius, from tempus (“time”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/, /ˈtɛmpəɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/, /ˈtɛmpəɹi/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈʈɛmp(ɵ)rəri/, (proscribed, metathesis) /ˈʈɛmprəwəri/
• Hyphenation: tem‧po‧rary

Adjective

temporary (comparative more temporary, superlative most temporary)

1. Not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time.

   Synonyms: temporal (synonymous in one of its senses), impermanent

   Antonyms: eternal, unending, neverending

   Sally was put in temporary charge of the department while they searched for a full-time replacement.

2. Existing only for a short time or short times.

   Synonyms: transient, ephemeral; see also Thesaurus:ephemeral

Derived terms

• nontemporary
• temporarily
• temporariness
• temporary gentleman
• temporary help
• temporary restraining order
• temporary tooth
• there is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution

Related terms

• temporality
• tempus fugit

Translations

for a limited time, ephemeral, not constant

• Arabic: مُؤَقَّت (muʔaqqat)
• Armenian: ժամանակավոր (hy) (žamanakavor)
• Azerbaijani: müvəqqəti (az), ötücü, ötəri, sürəksiz
• Belarusian: тымчасо́вы (tymčasóvy), часо́вы (be) (časóvy)
• Bulgarian: вре́менен (bg) (vrémenen)
• Burmese: ယာယီ (my) (yayi)
• Catalan: temporal (ca), temporani
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暫時 / 暂时 (zh) (zànshí, zhànshí, zǎnshí)

• Czech: dočasný (cs) m
• Danish: midlertidig (da)
• Dutch: tijdelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: efemera (eo), iama
• Finnish: väliaikainen (fi), ohimenevä (fi), hetkellinen (fi), määräaikainen (fi)
• French: temporaire (fr), provisoire (fr) m or f
• Galician: temporal (gl), transitorio (gl)
• Georgian: დროებითი (droebiti)
• German: zeitweilig (de), temporär (de), vorübergehend (de)
• Gothic: 𐍈𐌴𐌹𐌻𐌰𐍈𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌱𐍃 (ƕeilaƕairbs)
• Greek: προσωρινός (el) (prosorinós)

  Ancient Greek: πρόσκαιρος (próskairos)

• Hindi: अस्थायी (hi) (asthāyī)
• Hungarian: ideiglenes (hu), átmeneti (hu)
• Italian: temporaneo (it)
• Japanese: 暫くの (ja) (しばらくの, shibaraku no), 暫時の (ja) (ざんじの, zanji no), 一時的な (ja) (いちじてきな, ichijiteki na)
• Kazakh: уақытша (uaqytşa)
• Korean: 일시적인 (ilsijeog-in)
• Kyrgyz: убактылуу (ky) (ubaktıluu), күнүмдүк (ky) (künümdük)
• Latin: temporālis, temporārius
• Macedonian: привремен (privremen)
• Manchu: ᠨᡝᡵᡤᡳᠨ (nergin)
• Māori: rangitahi, taupua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: midlertidig (no)

  Nynorsk: mellombels (nn)

• Persian: زمانه‌ور (zamānevar)

  Iranian Persian: مُوَقَّت (movaġġat)

• Polish: tymczasowy (pl) krótkoczasowy, krótkotrwały (pl)
• Portuguese: temporário (pt)
• Romanian: temporar (ro)
• Russian: вре́менный (ru) (vrémennyj)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: gaskaboddosaš

• Scottish Gaelic: sealach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: привремен

  Latin: privremen (sh)

• Slovak: dočasný
• Slovene: začasen
• Spanish: temporal (es) (polysemic), temporario (es) (uncommon), temporáneo (es) (uncommon), temporero (es) (of a worker)
• Swedish: tillfällig (sv), temporär (sv)
• Tagalog: pansamantala
• Telugu: తాత్కాలికం (te) (tātkālikaṁ)
• Turkish: geçici (tr)
• Ukrainian: тимчасо́вий (tymčasóvyj), пли́нний (plýnnyj)
• Uyghur: ۋاقىتلىق (waqitliq), مۇۋەققەت (muweqqet)
• Vietnamese: tạm thời (vi), lâm thời (vi)
• Welsh: dros dro (cy)

Noun

temporary (plural temporaries)

1. One serving for a limited time; a short-term employee, especially in an office.

   Synonyms: floater, temp

2. (programming) A short-term variable used to store an intermediate result.

   Synonym: temp

Translations

short-term employee

• Catalan: eventual (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臨時工 / 临时工 (zh) (línshígōng), 臨時雇員 / 临时雇员 (línshí gùyuán)

• Danish: vikar (da)
• Finnish: määräaikainen työntekijä
• French: intérimaire (fr) m or f
• German: Zeitarbeitskraft f
• Romanian: interimat (ro) n
• Russian: вре́менный рабо́тник m (vrémennyj rabótnik), вре́менный сотру́дник m (vrémennyj sotrúdnik), вре́менная рабо́тница f (vrémennaja rabótnica), вре́менная сотру́дница f (vrémennaja sotrúdnica)
• Sicilian: jurnataru (scn) (daily worker)
• Spanish: temporero (es) m, temporal (es) m