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Fairy vs Ephemeral - What's the difference?

fairy | ephemeral |

As nouns the difference between fairy and ephemeral

is that fairy is (uncountable|obsolete) the realm of faerie; enchantment, illusion while ephemeral is something which lasts for a short period of time.

As an adjective ephemeral is

lasting for a short period of time.

fairy

English

(wikipedia fairy)

Alternative forms

* faery * faerie

Noun

(fairies)
  • (uncountable, obsolete) the realm of faerie; enchantment, illusion.
  • A mythical being who had magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although often depicted in modern illustrations only as small and spritely with gauze-like wings; A sprite.
  • (Northern England, US, derogatory, colloquial) a male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.
  • (paganism) A nature spirit revered in modern paganism.
  • Two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx.
  • Synonyms

    * (mythical being) fay, fey, fae, sprite * (male homosexual) fag (US), faggot (US), poof (UK), queen (wikipedia fairy)

    Derived terms

    * airy-fairy * fairy bread * fairy chess * fairy circle * fairy cycle * fairy dust * fairy floss * fairy godmother * fairy lights * fairy lily * fairy primrose * fairy ring * fairy ring champignon * fairy shrimp * fairy story * fairy tale * fairy thorn * fairy wren * fairyfloss * fairyland * fairy-tale, fairytale * tooth fairy * water fairy

    ephemeral

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something which lasts for a short period of time.
  • Synonyms

    * (short-lived) ephemeron

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Lasting for a short period of time.
  • * Vicesimus Knox
  • Esteem, lasting esteem, the esteem of good men, like himself, will be his reward, when the gale of ephemeral popularity shall have gradually subsided.
  • * Sir J. Stephen
  • sentences not of ephemeral , but of eternal, efficacy
  • * '>citation
  • It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral , because human, sorrows.
  • (biology) Existing for only one day, as with some flowers, insects, and diseases.
  • (geology, of a body of water) Usually dry, but filling with water for brief periods during and after precipitation.
  • * 1986 , W.H. Raymond, "Clinoptilolite Deposit in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.A.", in Y?ichi Murakami et al. (editors), New Developments in Zeolite Science and Technology (conference proceedings), Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-444-98981-9, page 80:
  • The graben constitutes a depositional basin and a topographic low, underlain by Cretaceous shales, in which volcanic debris accumulated in ephemeral lakes and streams in Oligocene and early Miocene time.

    Synonyms

    * (lasting for a short period of time) temporary, transitory, fleeting, evanescent, momentary, short-lived, short, volatile * See also

    Antonyms

    * (lasting for a long period of time) permanent, eternal, everlasting, timeless.

    Derived terms

    * ephemerally