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Mundane vs Ephemeral - What's the difference?

mundane | ephemeral | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between mundane and ephemeral

is that mundane is worldly, earthly, profane, vulgar as opposed to heavenly while ephemeral is lasting for a short period of time.

As nouns the difference between mundane and ephemeral

is that mundane is an unremarkable, ordinary human being while ephemeral is something which lasts for a short period of time.

mundane

English

Adjective

(er)
  • worldly, earthly, profane, vulgar as opposed to heavenly
  • Pertaining to the Universe, cosmos or physical reality, as opposed to the spiritual world.
  • * 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2):
  • Amongst mundane bodies, six there are that do perpetually move, and they are the six Planets; of the rest, that is, of the Earth, Sun, and fixed Stars, it is disputable which of them moveth, and which stands still.
  • ordinary; not new
  • tedious; repetitive and boring
  • Synonyms

    * (of the earth) worldly * banal, boring, commonplace, everyday, routine, workaday, jejune

    Antonyms

    * heavenly * arcane

    References

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unremarkable, ordinary human being.
  • (slang, derogatory, in various subcultures) A person considered to be "normal", part of the mainstream culture, outside the subculture, not part of the elite group.
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , year = 1959 , date = December 1 , first = Ron , last = Bennett , authorlink = , magazine = Skyrack , title = , url = http://www.gostak.co.uk/skyrack/SKYRACK10.htm , volume = , issue = 10 , page = , passage = THE LIVERPOOL PARTY at Pat and Frank Milnes’ celebrated both the Gunpowder Plot and the Liverpool Club’s 400th and something meeting. Two mundane and non-fan friends of the hosts - women, too - played brag all night and Norman Weedall disappeared at 3 a.m. }}
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , year = 1989 , date = Spring , first = Lawrence , last = Person , authorlink = , magazine = , title = Fear and Loathing in New Orleans: A Savage Journey Into the Heart of American Fandom , url = , volume = 2 , issue = 3 (whole number
  • 7)
  • , page = 10 , passage = The Demon Barber and I played Shock the Mundanes . The door would open up and we would start a sentence in mid-imaginary conversation, like—‘Of course, they never found the body.’ }}
  • * 1996 , "Angel of Death", furries vs. mundanes'' (discussion on Internet newsgroup ''alt.fan.furry )
  • Some people just think your (SIC) a sicko or something for enjoying the art. I know that alot (SIC) of the time, I would rather see some nice nude furrygirls instead of pictures of nude mundanes .
  • (fandom slang) The world outside fandom; the normal, mainstream world.
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , year = 1966 , date = November , first = Lee , last = Hoffman , authorlink = , magazine = Science-Fiction Five-Yearly , title = Our Authors , url = http://fanac.org/fanzines/SF_Five_Yearly/sffy4-34.html , volume = , issue = 4 , page = 35 , passage = Long famed in fandom, Mr. Bloch skyrocketed to prominence in the mundane when his autobiographical novel, PSYCHO, was made into a hit motion picture. }}

    Synonyms

    * (ordinary person) See * (mainstream person) See

    Derived terms

    * mundanely * mundaneness * mundanity

    See also

    * (pedialite) Article on the use of “mundane” as a derogatory term.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    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