What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Fleeting vs Forever - What's the difference?

fleeting | forever |

As an adjective fleeting

is passing quickly.

As a verb fleeting

is .

As an adverb forever is

(duration) for all time, for all eternity; for an infinite amount of time.

As a noun forever is

an extremely long time.

fleeting

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Passing quickly.
  • * 1931 , Martha Kinross, "The Screen — From This Side", The Fortnightly , Volume 130, page 511:
  • Architecture, sculpture, painting are static arts. Even in literature "our flying minds," as George Meredith says, cannot contain protracted description. It is so; for from sequences of words they must assemble all the details in one simultaneous impression. But moments of fleeting beauty too transient to be caught by any means less swift than light itself are registered on the screen.
  • * 2003 , Gabrielle Walker, Snowball Earth: The Story of a Maverick Scientist and His Theory of the Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It , Three Rivers Press (2003), ISBN 1400051258, pages 34-35:
  • During the fleeting summer months of his field season, when the outer vestiges of winter melted briefly, there were ponds and pools and lakes of water everywhere.
  • * 2008 , Barbara L. Bellman & Susan Goldstein, Flirting After Fifty: Lessons for Grown-Up Women on How to Find Love Again , iUniverse (2008), ISBN 9780595428281, page 12:
  • For starters, we see examples all the time of some middle-aged men trying to hang onto their own fleeting youth by sporting younger women on their arms.
  • * 2010 , Leslie Ludy, The Lost Art of True Beauty: The Set-Apart Girl's Guide to Feminine Grace , Harvest House Publishers (2010), ISBN 9780736922906, page 5:
  • And I am inspired afresh to pursue the stunning beauty of Christ rather than the fleeting beauty of this world.

    Synonyms

    * ephemeral * See also .

    Verb

    (head)
  • forever

    English

    Alternative forms

    * for ever

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (duration) for all time, for all eternity; for an infinite amount of time.
  • ''I shall love you forever .
  • * 1839 , Denison Olmsted, A Compendium of Astronomy Page 95
  • Secondly, When a body is once in motion it will continue to move forever , unless something stops it. When a ball is struck on the surface of the earth, the friction of the earth and the resistance of the air soon stop its motion.
  • (duration, colloquial) for a very long time, 'an' eternity.
  • ''We had to wait forever to get inside.
  • (frequency) constantly or frequently.
  • ''You are forever nagging me.
  • * 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 5
  • Early in his boyhood he had learned to form ropes by twisting and tying long grasses together, and with these he was forever tripping Tublat or attempting to hang him from some overhanging branch.

    Usage notes

    * In the United Kingdom and most of the Commonwealth, the spelling for ever'' may be used instead of ''forever'' for the senses "for all time" and "for a long time". In Canada and the United States, generally only ''forever is used, regardless of sense.

    Synonyms

    * always * continually * eternally * evermore * for good * forevermore * for ever more * incessantly * until Kingdom come

    Derived terms

    * foreverness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An extremely long time.
  • *
  • * 2007 , Ruth O'Callaghan, Where acid has etched
  • In the airport, holiday lovers kiss, mouth forevers , the usual argot betrays you. Desire makes love dull.
  • (colloquial) a mythical time in the infinite future that will never come.
  • ''Sure, I'd be happy to meet with you on the 12th of forever .